The Panthers are 1/1 on their current West Coast swing.
After downing the Ducks 5-2 on Tuesday night, the Cats had a quick turnaround (via the dreaded back-to-back schedule) and found themselves on the receiving end of a 2-1 loss to Los Angeles Royalty on Wednesday night.
The first 2/3 of the 1st period against the Kings made it evident that Florida had played the night before. LA controlled that period, and if it wasn’t for Knight, the Cats could have been down by a lot.
Speaking of Knight…
I have been critical of him over the years, but I must admit he has looked solid this season - particularly his past few starts. Knight turned away 26/28 shots and played a very big, confident game. He did not lose focus after giving up a goal — a weakness of his that was more evident at the beginning of his career. He stayed in the zone.
On the other end of the ice, free-agent pickup Darcy Kuemper was nasty for the Kings. Once the Panthers finally woke up, they tested Kuemper with a lot of quality chances.
While the goalie dual drove the excitement of this game, it was the conditioning of the Kings that won them the game. “Conditioning” is the wrong word. The reality is that Florida was coming off a game the night before and could not maintain the stamina to beat Los Angeles.
TONIGHT
THE panthers will have to take Arnold’s advice and learn to “sleep faster” as they are back on the ice in San Jose to kickoff another back-to-back two days.
The big news out of today is that Ekblad may make his return Saturday at the Shark Tank, as
the Cats’ site reports:>
“
Sidelined eight of the last nine games – including each of the last seven – with an upper-body injury, Ekblad has been skating the past few weeks.
In his return, No. 5 was skating in his usual spot alongside Gustav Forsling.
“He skated hard and he prepped hard,” Maurice said of Ekblad’s rehab.
A crucial piece on the blue line, Ekblad, despite missing time due to his injury, still leads Florida’s defensemen in both assists (18) and points (20). He also ranks third in hits (59) and blocked shots (56), while averaging a team-leading 23:32 of ice time per contest.
Prior to his injury, Ekblad was also on the top power play and penalty killing units.
“He touches all three phases of our game -- important minutes,” Maurice said of Ekblad’s impact. “We’ve missed him. We kind of had (Niko) Mikkola out at the start of January, and then he was out. We’ve missed a big man on our blue line clearing the net front.”
The next update on Ekblad’s potential return will come following Saturday’s morning skate.”
The 14-31-6 Sharks should be a team the Panthers jump on to get the taste of that late third period loss in LA out of their mouths.
It’s not a guaranteed win, however. Any team can be beat on any night, but the paper says the Panthers should win this one. I’d give Bob the start to help get his confidence going again.
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Go Panthers!
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