Roblogg’s Panthers Portal

With the upcoming Florida schedule brimming with top-opposition, this was a game the Panthers needed to win: Especially after losing that tight game to the Capitals on Sunday.

New Jersey entered the Bank Atlantic Center full of confidence after beating the best teams in the league over the weekend (Boston and San Jose) and winning 13 of their last 15 games. The Cats meanwhile have played fantastically well since the New Year, but the stats didn’t favor them going in to this game nonetheless. However, games aren’t won on statistics alone and the Panthers stepped on to the ice with purpose and determination written all over their collective faces.

Getting a good start is essential when playing the Devils and Florida got that crucial break when a Bryan McCabe shot was spilled by Scott Clemmensen and Stephen Weiss found himself with the puck in possession in front of the goalmouth. Clemmensen cheated slightly to his right and Weiss coolly slotted it home to his left. 1-0 after 4.18 of the first period and the Cats got that influential opener that would allow them some space to maneuver in; whilst NJ was forced forward.

Tomas Vokoun now came to the fore with some wonderful saves to keep the fragile lead intact. New Jersey poured on the pressure, as the first period progressed, but Vokoun was staunch in his rearguard action. No puck was out of his control on the night it seemed and would soon be proved with a brilliant shutout. Tomas appears to be in the form of his life and as long as he plays this way, and has the stout defense to back him up, it’s hard to see anyone scoring on him (although Ovechkin did prove it is possible, after all).

It was a good all-round contest from both teams with plenty of chances and nice offensive plays. It can clearly be seen that the two coaches not only know each other well, but also have a similar hockey-philosophy and preferred style of play. Panthers were pressed at times but held their own and in the end it was only the crossbar that prevented Keith Ballard from doubling Florida’s lead – mere seconds before the first interval.

The game was won in the second period when, half way through, the Cats capitalized on a rare power-play advantage. A shot from Michael Frolik fell to David Booth who, under immense pressure in front of the crease, managed to steer the puck to Richard Zednik; whom in turn was left alone by the goalpost and was presented with an open net to effortlessly stuff the puck in to.

A couple of minutes later Richard Zednik found himself with the puck behind the goal, waited patiently for the right set up, and then flicked the puck behind his back and in to the crowded slot. Nathan Horton had meanwhile held back and now skated in to take the Zednik pass, put it on the blade of his stick and with a swift movement flick it in at the far corner – well out of Clemmensen’s considerable reach.

The Florida Panthers were three goals up with only twenty-five minutes to go, but the Devils – to their credit – never gave up and continued to press forward in search of what could have been a releasing goal on another day. Tomas Vokoun and his able defense however had other plans and had their eyes set on the prize of a shutout. 10 saves in the third period later (36 saves in all) and a Cory Stillman goal from a marvelous Stephen Weiss assist to effectively punctuate the game – Vokoun had his well deserved shutout and left the contest with another first star.

Whilst one can’t say too much about Tomas Vokoun’s performances of late, and in this game in particular, it should nonetheless be noted that this was a complete team effort from the Cats. Everyone was top of their game and pulled their own weight in their respective roles. Special mentioning, as always, goes to Karlis Skrastins and his solid defensive work and painstaking blocks. Jay Bouwmeester and Keith Ballard have been equally impressive in the defensive toil; it seems they’ve been asked to do focus on their defensive duties in these games against the best teams of the NHL and they’ve done it very assertively.

Among the forwards, one must mention the first two lines with rising respect: Booth – Horton – Zednik, and, Stillman – Weiss – Frolik. And what is truly impressive is that these two top lines have been not only producing when going forward, but have displayed some real grit and played compact hockey defensively as well (characteristics we are already well acquainted with from the third and fourth lines – night in and night out). Each of those players have upped their individual games of late and has started to find the net on a more regular basis.

That the lines have been kept intact in many consecutive games now has probably helped the players a lot in this respect. Chemistry is developing and the lines are started in play their notes more in sync with each other, feeling increasingly comfortable in their roles within the team.

Nonetheless, while this was a very important win, fact is that all games now are crucial. And there is no let up in the schedule either. Next follows a rejuvenated Chicago Blackhawks tomorrow and then the league pacesetters Boston Bruins come to town on Saturday. Yet, if the Panthers play like they did yesterday, against the hottest team in the NHL, there is no reason to believe we can’t pick up important points against these top-notch teams as well!

Tomas Vokoun is arguably in the best form so far of his early Panthers career; having one solid performance after another. Coming off a 4th shutout win of the season, against Carolina, he had an equally adept goalie on the other side of the ice yesterday; in the form of Ny Rangers Henrik Lundqvist.

It quickly become apparent that these two goaltenders were going to have a private battle in this game; one trying to out-do the other with plentiful and brilliant saves. It was a forwards nightmare as the netminders wouldn’t give them any opening to aim at.

The contest itself was a very tight affair, as could be expected between two teams that puts its defense first and has had a lot of success in doing so. Yet there was also plenty of open play and the puck was continuously being hauled back and forth in search of those elusive goal scoring chances which both sets of forwards were craving. Both teams also had sustained spells of pressure in one-another’s zones – cranking off hopeful shots that the goaltenders easily snapped out of the air.

It was the visitors that finally could draw first blood when Fredrik Sjöström had a shot that squeaked in behind Vokoun, after the Rangers players had been left alone to jab at him from within the crease. Both Tomas and the puck were in the end knocked over the line. It wasn’t pretty, but the Rangers seldomly care about cosmetics and were happy just to be on the board.

The New Yorkers go-ahead goal came late in the first period and early in the second period the Panthers had leveled affairs. Michael Frolik scored again, this time picking up the puck from a nice feed from behind the net by Stillman. Frolik turned around and snapped his shot along the ice – beating Lundqvist between the pads.

The goal electrified an otherwise subdued crowd and the rest of the game became a thrilling hunt for what everyone more or less understood would be the winning goal; seeing as how well the two goaltenders were playing. In the third period Vokoun and Lundqvist exchanged saves and the contest went first to overtime and then the shootouts.

The Florida Panthers have not done well in shootouts this year and were now facing the best team in the NHL in this respect. Much of the Rangers success is due to Lundqvist, who stopped the first three Panther shooters; Stillman, Horton and Weiss. He could however not stop the red-hot Richard Zednik who scored on Florida’s fourth attempt. Tomas Vokoun meanwhile did his job more than well and fended off all four Ranger shooters: The Cats won a shootout!!

Credit must go to Vokoun for the victory, but everyone on the team played well and matched the Rangers line-for-line; despite playing that crucial game away to Carolina just the night before.

Now follows a day’s well earned rest and then the Washington Capitals come to town for another match-up. It will be a very tough game for the Panthers, but one I think everyone now believes we can win if we just get a couple of pucks bouncing our way – and not in the Caps direction – as in the previous meeting a week ago today.

The Florida Panthers head coach Peter DeBoer has recently gone public in his praise of the team’s never-say-die attitude and playing right down to the final buzzer. It has given rise to some spectacular comebacks already this season; salvaging important points that looked long lost – when entering the final minutes in the third. Not least in that last game away to Toronto.

Overall it is a remarkable difference from previous years’ tame third period kittens; and the timid meow has now been replaced with a snarling growl!

Yet, yesterday really took the cake with a script Tinseltown would be proud of. But the common man would probably shrug their collective shoulders and say “typical Hollywood” with a scornful sneer. No wonder then that the crowd were literally on their way out of the stadium in the third period – after going 1-4 down to the Maple Leafs. Normally that would be “game set and match – Elvis has left the building”. But the buzzer had not yet sounded and the Panthers were back on the prowl 26 seconds later when Nathan Horton was presented with an open goal from a fortuitous Boynton bounce. Florida was happy to capitalize and it was game on…

Ville Peltonen then put the price firmly within range by stabbing in a rebound – to make it 3-4. But from then on it was the “Richard Zednik show” once again as he first tied the game then smacked home a delightful cross-ice pass from Cory Stillman – to win the game in overtime.

Not only the Maple Leafs looked stunned, but the entire Panthers nation was probably rubbing their eyes in disbelief: For the first time in franchise history the Florida Panthers had overcome a three goal deficit and won the game!!

Times are changing and so are Florida’s fortunes on the ice. Of course the team can’t keep digging holes for themselves, as they’ve done lately, and hope for a stunning third period riposte. As Washington proved in the previous game; such comebacks are hard to achieve if the opposing team is a skilled top-opponent brimming with confidence. And considering the up-coming Cats schedule will include Carolina, NY Rangers, Washington, New Jersey, Chicago and Boston – the need is there to get a better start in those contests: These are teams that won’t fold the way Toronto currently does (perhaps with the exception of Rangers).

Nonetheless this is a time for rejoice and ample sighs of relief, as the victory puts the Panthers above the Hurricanes in the standings – clinging to that eight spot – as indeed a trip to Raleigh is next on the agenda tomorrow.

Richard’s Ztory

What makes the game against Toronto the perfect Hollywood story is naturally the remarkable journey Richard Zednik has been through this last year. Yes, it was exactly one year ago yesterday that that horrific accident in Buffalo almost ended Zednik’s life.

Olli Jokinen’s skate unluckily flew up in a board tussle and lacerated Richard’s neck and almost severed his carotid artery. Fortunately Florida’s trainer Dave Zenobi reacted quickly and together with the Buffalo medical staff could stem the bleeding. An emergency operation at the hospital miraculously completed the life-saving mission. One year later and Richard Zednik is not only in good health, but incredibly in top form scoring crucial goals for the Panthers. Now that is a truly astonishing comeback!

Richard started this season carefully and has slowly but surely become more assured on the ice and now looks back to the form he displayed just before that accident a year ago. With yesterday’s game he has double digits in goals scored – including some real match winning gems – and has 22 points overall, is plus 6 and is increasingly starting to get in to a groove.

It will be needed if the Cats hope to squeeze in among the eastern eight. Zednik has that skill and flair to unlock opponents that otherwise is lacking in an industrious Florida offense. Pete DeBoer will be counting on Richard and the other veterans down the stretch to perform. And at this current crossroads – all lights are green as far as Zednik is concerned.

Richard Zednik may not have scored many goals this season, but what he’s lacked in quantity – he sure makes up for with quality. It seems he has a special eye for the spectacular, highlight reel, kind of goal. Also, more importantly, his goals have tended to be the proverbial back-breaker of opposing teams; scoring at opportune moments when the Panthers have been under mounting pressure.

Today he scored the winning goal in a fashion that left spectators stupendously gawking with incredulity. It is not every day you see a player jump over an opponent and then score whilst still airborne. And yes, we’re still talking about Hockey here – not Basketball!

(If you haven’t yet seen this pearl of a goal – watch it here on the NHL Network)

However, before this fabulous goal punctuated a very important win and two points for the Panthers, it was the Florida defense that yet again showed the way with a pair of goals in the first period. Slapshots from Jay Bouwmeester and Karlis Skrastins gave the Cats a nice two goal cushion when entering the second period. Our defense is now the leading goalscoring ‘D’ in the entire league, tallying an impressive 36 goals all-in-all.

The first period perhaps lulled the home team into a sustained catnap in the mid period; in which Florida collected 8 minutes to kill on the man-disadvantage. The Islanders were happy to cash in from the Panthers poor discipline and got two power-play goals from the man-advantage. Sandwiched between these goals was the magical high-flying Zednik game winner.

Richard flipped the puck past a defender, advanced down the right wing – then cut in – jumped over another sliding defender and slid the puck under the goalie in one motion whilst still in the air. Pure inspiration! The Panthers then held on in the third period with relative comfort to claim the points.

Head Coach Peter DeBoer said after the game about Zednik: “There’s a guy…I haven’t given enough credit to lately. He’s really battling hard. He’s doing a lot of the little things well away from the puck and he’s starting to get rewarded at the net, too. That’s the kind of contributions we need.” [Quote from the Panthers website]

Indeed, those kinds of contributions anyone would be delighted to get! Yet, this wasn’t necessarily a very pretty match and the Panthers had to work hard and get some important breaks to win against, what has become, a bogey team for the Cats this season.

In fact all Florida players seemed to be playing diligent Hockey on the night. Special mentioning goes out to McCabe (2 assists), goalscorers Bouwmeester & Skrastins, assisters Horton & Weiss, rock-solid Campbell & Cullimore – and of course – Richard Zednik.

As mentioned already, it was an important two points as we head in to a very tough stretch for the Panthers; starting on Saturday away against a red-hot Green & Ovechkin duo – and the rest of the Capitals. Carolina also put some pressure on the Cats by shocking the Sharks and taking two points with them from their visit in San Jose.

It will be a rough ride down the playoff road for Florida, but the Islanders speed bump was at least grinded down yesterday, and we are now – one step closer.