Roblogg’s Panthers Portal

The fans already have. The players: not so much.

They have not faced up to the reality that surrounds this club and what it takes to be successful here.

The more religiously inclined might call it a miracle, but the answer is much more down to earth than that…

The Florida Panthers need to suck it up!

Two devastating injuries in the last game to the Flyers need to be addressed. And at this point in time no one knows when Radek Dvorak and David Booth will be back, so we must do it without them.

“They’re going to be missed,” said coach Peter DeBoer of Booth and Dvorak on the Panthers’ official website. “They drive a lot of our offense and forecheck. It’s not something you replace easily, but we don’t have a lot of choice.”

No they don’t. All teams suffer devastating injuries and must find a way to get around the issue. The Panthers are no different and can’t use this as an excuse.

Indeed, it does seem as if the Florida players have been angling for excuses so far into the season. There has always been some ‘reasons’ behind the poor play: the tough preseason, trip to Finland, too many days off, exceptional opponents, yada yada yada.

Add these recent injuries to the equation and the Panthers could have enough excuses to slip behind Toronto in the table and still be able to look themselves in the mirror.

But there are no excuses.

The day the players accept this and start taking some responsibility on the ice; that’s when results will start to improve. Not before.

The main problem with the Cats this season is consistency. Hell, that’s been the problem for almost ten years now!

And it’s the lack of consistency and the myriad of excuses that trickle down from staff, players, and management; that inevitably leads to the dissatisfaction of the fanbase and its subsequent slow disintegration over the years.

Coach Peter DeBoer is right when he says that “we’re battling (to try and find) our identity as a team. […] We’re one of those teams that don’t have a big margin of error.”

The Panthers desperately need to find that new identity. Rather than keep clinging to the old one: an identity of having only one consistency—constant underachievement and a host false hope coming from the occasional flash of inspired performances.

That is one characteristic this club would do well to shed and leave behind.

Perhaps the shakeup caused by these injuries is not the worst thing that could happen to Florida. A couple of energetic and speedy youngsters in the form of Michal Repik and Kenndal McArdle could help change a seemingly acerbic locker room spirit.

Whilst Booth and Dvorak are two wholehearted performers that always give their best for the club and thus will be missed, I nevertheless like the idea of blooding a couple of youngsters that still have everything to prove at this level.

They’ll be sure to bring some enthusiasm to the team and are as of yet untainted by the past underperformances of this club.

On the contrary; having started the season in Rochester of the AHL, Repik and McArdle would have seen firsthand how a club can rise from the ashes of its former self.

The Amerks had a dreadful last campaign and finished dead last in their Division. This time around, with a few astute veteran signings added to the roster, the team is 8-1-1 and top of the pile.

One would have wished the Panthers could have done something similar this year—or any other year since the summer of 2000 (last playoff appearance).

If this season starts slipping away, to any further extent than it already has, the Panthers need to be bold and start relying more on the young prospects and perhaps trade away some of the veterans that aren’t contributing.

The season is not over yet however and the game tomorrow against the Senators must become a statement game for the current Florida troops. 2-6-1 is a horrendous start to the campaign, and yet, quite well deserved.

The players have nothing to blame but their own effort, or the rather, the apparent lack thereof.

Suck it up and start playing as a collective; it’s the only way this club is ever going to overcome its problems. When certain individuals start realizing this wisdom—that’s when things can start changing for the better, not before.

It’s obviously also possible that the players simply aren’t any better than what they’re currently showing and are thus giving it their best. In that case it is job of the newly appointed General Manager, Randy Sexton, to spring into action and change things around.

Those pesky “Nathan Horton is being shopped around by the Panthers” rumors have reappeared. According to The Fourth Period the Ottawa Sun are adamant that the report is not mere gossip and cites “various unnamed league executives”.

General Manager Randy Sexton has also previously rubbished any talk of trading Nathan.

TFP editor David Pagnotta goes on to state his opinion about this rumor: “Of course, Sexton will deny the report, even if it was true. Horton’s a 24-year-old stud, who’s having a bad start to the season, and the fans love him. If the Panthers do trade Horton (and I personally believe it’s more of a ‘when’ than an ‘if’), they could command a solid package in return”.

Comments like this make me wonder how much hockey reporters really follow the Panthers, outside of the southern part of this state. Yet, despite their apparent Floridian unawareness they never stop having opinions about it nonetheless: “The fans love him”. Really??

Apparently there are no takers if you care to believe in this particular rumor.

Judge this latest tittle-tattle anyway you wish, but I still think Nathan won’t be going anywhere for a while—as I’ve previously detailed here in an extensive article.

Dmitry Kulikov and Nathan Horton - will they stay in Florida or will they go?

Meanwhile the tenure of 18-year old rookie defenseman Dmitry Kulikov is most likely to be decided later today. The coaching staff is to meet and discuss if Dmitry will stay with the Panthers or be sent back to the juniors in Canada.

Whilst everyone expects the former, some voices are being raised—claiming it might perhaps be better if Kulikov rejoins the juniors in QMJHL instead.

George Richards of The Miami Herald stated yesterday that: “With the team 2-6-1, it might be best for him to go back in my opinion. No, he’s not going to learn anything more in the QMJHL, but this place is close to imploding. It might just get ugly around here. This season has Titanic written all over it”.

The reasoning being that if this Florida cruise liner is about to sink, we might as well save Kulikov from the calamity that will inevitably follow from such a debacle.

Maybe enjoying some success in the juniors would be better for his mental progress than to have to endure the creaks and taunts of the ‘Titanic II’ as it dissolves in blue?

On the other hand, if there is still hope of turning things around, then the club might do well in keeping him here in Florida.

Head Coach Peter DeBoer has repeatedly praised Dmitry for his maturity and fine a displays; saying he has something that otherwise is missing among the Cats.

It sounds as if Pete would be loathed to see Kulikov leave. Especially considering the recent injuries to Radek Dvorak and David Booth one would imagine.

DeBoer is not someone to give up easily and would not want to be disarmed and hung out to dry during the remainder of the season. So, it would be very surprising to see Kulikov leave.

He is here to stay it would seem, for better or worse.

The natural response to the eventual defeat that the Cats suffered yesterday at Pittsburgh is one of incredulity. The Panthers played so well for 40 minutes and then in the third period it all falls apart…

Yes, we all know that picture all too well. How often has not a Panthers fan seen that happen over the years?

Yet, as natural as that thought process may be, we must also lift our heads to see past that concluding disappointment and see the strides forward that were actually made in this game.

Who among us actually thought the Cats would get anything from this game at all?

With a red-hot Pittsburgh team, that was continuing to tear apart opposing teams in the early part of the season, one might be excused for fearing the worst: that Florida might be ripped to the bone and be left embarrassed—as against Buffalo on Wednesday.

But that did not happen.

Rather, the Panthers found their collective growl and did to the Penguins what the Sabres did to us in that recent first period. Obviously we weren’t going to get five goals like Buffalo did, but two important goals nonetheless. Both scored by Steven Reinprecht.

Reinprecht has found his footing in Florida and is now starting to contribute well to the team. With a three goal scoring streak going, he added a brace of nitty-gritty goals to his tally. Both were created by Steven crashing the crease and mopping up loose pucks to stick away.

In other words: just the kind of goals the Cats need to start scoring to be successful.

Indeed, whatever the coaches and players had been practicing, talking about, and doing to get focused for this game—it worked a charm. The Panthers of yesterday was a different team from what we saw on Wednesday or almost any other game of the season.

They worked so hard that many players seemed to have in progress began blowing fuses in the third period. Some sloppy play and bad decision became the result. It gave the Penguins a way back into the match and they grabbed it with both flippers.

Sidney Crosby showed why he’s regarded so highly by claiming both goals that drew Pittsburgh level late in the third period. The Panthers meanwhile showed why they still need to hone their special teams: the first goal was a powerplay tally and the second a shorthanded one.

The game thus went to the dreaded shootout and there Sidney once again made himself the home crowd’s darling with a nice deke and penalty score. It was the only one and hence the Penguins took the additional point.

One could argue that it was a fair result considering how dominant the Penguins were in the third and thus showed they had the cutting edge when it really mattered.

But, on the other hand, one could equally argue that for the first 40 minutes of the game the Panthers had been the better team and should have had a bigger lead than the two goals they had when entering the third.

Indeed, Panthers Caoch Peter DeBoer made that last point after the game, saying:
"We couldn’t get a third goal. We had opportunities, I thought maybe four or five tonight; some 2-on-1s, some chances around the net, but we have to find a way to get more goals."

Especially left winger David Booth was a constant thorn in the Penguins’ side, getting himself in 1-on-1 situations and into the scoring areas over and over again. Shame only he couldn’t find the target any of those times…

Booth seems to be in that place right now were nothing goes in no matter how hard he tries. But, sooner or later that vacuum will be released and hopefully David will then burst on to the scoring charts the way we want to see.

Other special mentioning’s go to Tomas Vokoun who was stellar in goal. One brilliant save after another in that third period; he single-handedly kept our hopes of winning the game alive.

The defenders as a collective also deserve plenty of praise. They did very well moving the puck to the forwards in the opening 40 minutes, as well as pinching-in to help the offense whenever possible.

The forwards also had their collectively best game of the year, possibly competing with the Philadelphia contest, working tirelessly and fore-checking hard. Only poor Rostislav Olesz looked out of shape in this game and was unfortunately involved in both Penguins’ goals.

His demotion to the fourth line, despite being perhaps the Cats’ best player to that point in time, obviously didn’t go down too well with him.

Rosti seems to have a fragile confidence and his downgrading apparently knocked it around a bit.

With the blip that the demotion of Olesz caused, Coach DeBoer’s line-juggling otherwise seemed to pay-off pretty well.

Nathan Horton took his relegation to the second line maturely and battled hard throughout the game. Dominic Moore looked lively centering the third and Michael Frolik worked hard on the top line.

Overall this was a good team performance from Florida. They picked up an unexpected point in Pittsburgh and can now go to Philadelphia with some renewed confidence.

It just goes to show that all is not lost yet, it is early in the season, and the Cats are finding some inner pluckiness and fortitude to try and guide them past these early trials.

The Florida Panthers need to realize the urgency that surrounds them upon their trip to Pennsylvania.

Having been outscored 11-2 in the opening period of the previous seven games played, it is time to start competing from the first drop of the puck.

The Panthers do not enjoy any glaring opulence of skill or physical superiority over opposing teams, and thus, need to rely on good old fashioned hard work to be competitive.

Somehow the players don’t seem to have digested this nugget of wisdom quite yet.

This was blatantly obvious in the dreadful 2-5 defeat against the Buffalo Sabres on Wednesday at the Bank Atlantic Center…

Complacency again reared its ugly head in that first period, and as always, the consequences were dire.

The Coaching staff, lead by head coach Peter DeBoer, tried to get the message across by pulling goalie Scott Clemmensen after a mere two minutes of play, but with no visible effect.

Since that abomination of a period, the staff has again made the point in training drills by having the players crowding the so called “dirty-areas” of the ice; along the corners, crease and goalie line.

Now that’s where you need to be to compete!

The players will have a chance to show that they got the message loud and clear by making it a game against the reigning Stanley Cup Champions tonight. Not the easiest place to be triumphant, but the players should nevertheless be able to spot this game as a possible season changing contest.

Imagine going to Pittsburgh and challenging the Penguins up and down the ice and grinding out a result. What could possibly be a better way to reignite Florida’s season…?

As long as the Cats show their claws and aren’t beaten beforehand, this could be a more competitive game than most would imagine.

The key will of course be the start of the game. Whilst the Panthers have been sleepwalking through these first periods of the games so far, the Penguins on the other hand have been looking focused.

In their previous game, Pittsburgh beat St. Louis 5-1 to record an impressive 8-1-0 start to the season. In that first period they outshot the Blues 22-3; which makes those 20 minutes of action all the more important for the Cats—to have as their mental and pregame focal point.

Get off to a good start and with a pinch of confidence returning: anything can happen!

Win or lose, the Panthers need to show they are no pushovers as against the Sabres. And then, perhaps, they can take whatever they get out of the game and take it to Philadelphia tomorrow and stuff it to their hosts once more.

Having beaten the Flyers recently 4-2 at home, the Cats are in for a less friendly opponent this time around as Pronger & c/o lace-up in front of a fanatical crowd at the Wachovia Center.

The Philadelphia Flyers has just come off a scheduling quirk that had them playing only their second game in twelve days yesterday—the previous one being the game against the Panthers in Sunrise.

In that match last night the Flyers recorded a 4-3 win against the Boston Bruins. This shootout victory effectively ended their three game losing skid in what was essentially an appetizer for the coming Winter Classic.

For the home-side, it was particularly the fringe players that raised their game against the Bruins. Both the fourth forward line and third defensive pairing caused all sorts of problems for the visitors.

The Panthers must beware that Philly will come at you with everything and everyone they have. This brings me to my final point: squad depth.

Coach DeBoer has not yet revealed his cards as to who will be in goal. Both Scott Clemmensen and Tomas Vokoun were unimpressive in the recent beating by Buffalo.

But, being the No.1, Vokoun would be expected to be given the task of trying to stop the Penguins’ imposing array of firepower tonight. However, whatever performance Tomas melds together in The Steel City, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Clemmensen back in goal for the Flyers game; seeing as he won the previous matchup.

Elsewhere, question marks surround defenseman Bryan Allen. Can his delicate knee handle two such high-intensity games in a row?

If not, expect to see Jason Garrison to be called up from Rochester for the match in Philly.

Also, we can almost certainly expect DeBoer to try and juggle a few people around in the lines to get some feet moving and perhaps some goal scoring chemistry clicking.

Apart from these possible changes, we can only hope that these two games won’t cause the injury bug to appear in the Florida camp—as it subsequently has amongst other teams in the league that have already felt the congestive grind of the schedule.

Playing two such tough head-to-head games will undoubtedly put the Panthers firmly in the chomp of the crunch. The strength-levels within the team will be tested to the limit. And at such a critical point of this early season; the Panthers must prevail and bring something with them back home to South Florida from The Keystone State.

I don’t want to imagine a 2-7-0 start to the season. If that does happen however, then it is truly time to hit the panic button…

It will thus be a critical trip for Florida and a real test of its players; their strength in character and the team’s will to win.

Can the Panthers find that inner fortitude to bring them through these trying times with flying colors, or, will they again buckle under pressure?