Wins don't come cheap - or often - for the Panthers, and last night's victory was no exception: winger Richard Zednik will be out several weeks with an arm/elbow injury. Any chance JM's been looking for a forward? Now he'll need two.
On a similar note, and it may sound blasphemous, but I worry that last night's win against Carolina might actually hurt the club in the long run. One victory, though huge, troubles me in the sense that the Cats were rock bottom bad, looking up at the entire league above them in the standings. They're against a wall, players waived, threats made, and they scratch out a hard-fought and solid "W". What will we see tomorrow? Do they revert to the same-old same-old against the Devils, now that they've gotten a win to carry them for the next three weeks, while potential roster moves - read: trades - favor the Panthers less as each day moves forward?
Or have they finally gotten the message? All too many times we've seen this pattern: the Cats lose a string of games, season's slipping away, the hope is lost, and then we get a night that stirs the soul and the imagination. You come away from it, jaw on the floor, saying "They've figured it out." The next night, Vokoun (or Auld, or Belfour, or Luongo) is left for dead. There's never any progress. It's like the wins are accidents (and the players need to understand: we've been watching this a lot longer than they've been playing here). Last night was a tremendous game for any hockey fan to watch; close, tense, very few penalties (none, in fact, for Carolina), a divisional match you dream of. The Panthers earned every bit of that win. Who will show up tomorrow?
Well, that depends. If our coach is for real (and I am getting more critical of ol' "loose the reins" every day), I expect our team to come out guns blazing to make up for the loss last week. They will have to do that as this will be the de facto last home game of the week.
ReplyDeleteIf our coach is not for real, they'll slump out of the block and go into the first intermission down 2-0 after getting outshot 15-4 and killing three penalties.
Thank God for pregame beers!
And postgame beers, of course. Lots of 'em!
ReplyDeleteI've seen some bold predictions before, but Jerry, this one takes the cake!
ReplyDelete"If our coach is not for real, they'll slump out of the block and go into the first intermission down 2-0 after getting outshot 15-4 and killing three penalties."
It's like you were in a time machine and had already watched the game! Going into the first intermission last night, we were credited with 4 shots on goal, and we were down 2-0!!! That's amazing! Score one for the Scrufster!