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Breath of Fresh Air, Cats vs Preds

November 30, 2019, 9:47 AM ET [9 Comments]
Matt Ross
Florida Panthers Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
The Cats are on a three-game losing streak and gear up for a nine-game homestand that starts tonight against the Nashville Predators. It’s actually a franchise-record of home games coming.

A lot of fans (me included) have been discouraged by the last handful of games, and, similar to years past, the defense and goaltending situations thus far – which I think is justified. They outplayed Washington for much of the game on Wednesday and wound up with the loss, which is something we’ve seen all too much this year.

As I touched on in my last blog, it’s been a strange season in terms of things like this. While we can see improvements, there is still a lot of work to do in the areas of secondary goal scoring, defense and goaltending.

In a way, it reminds me a lot of fitness – particularly in regards to building muscle and shaping ones physique. We all want the instant results, but it just doesn’t work that way. You don’t walk into the gym one day as an average Joe and leave looking like Steve Reeves or Arnold. It’s a process that involves understanding what you have to work with (genetically) and developing a diet and workout plan (through trial and error) that works best with your body and yields the results you’re looking for. This can often be a long process, with many ups and downs, as you build/layer the muscles that you will ultimately shape.

The same goes for hockey and the Panthers. Under Q, they have a new coaching staff that’s learning what they have in this roster and what tweaks they need to make. Add to it that there are new players working to find their roles and responsibilities.

While the Cats have no doubt improved under Q, I never thought that the signing of him would be like flipping a light switch and instantly put them in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Why?

Like you, I saw too many issues in major areas (defense and goaltending) that needed addressing. Sometimes a team has all the ingredients and is just lacking that coaching change to bring in a fresh perspective and game plan to unlock a team’s potential. The Cats were not only in need of that, but also improvements to the crucial areas previously mentioned. While the offseason moves showed an organization willing to do what’s needed to be competitive, we know that not quite enough was done (*cough**cough* blue line…).

Getting Closer

Florida is close, but have some ways to go if they want to hold their position in the standings and be able to compete and win as the season progresses – in order to make this happen, I believe some significant trades will be in order.

A Boost Is Coming

On the heels of these recent losses and in the vein of the trouble areas we’ve discussed numerous times…Jameson Olive announced yesterday that Weegar will be back in the lineup tonight and that Chris Driedger will most likely be the man between the pipes.




Very psyched on the Weegar news. This will be a nice shot in the arm to the defense that they will surely benefit from. Weegar has been THE man on the backend and getting their leader back in time for a long homestand will be very nice. Let’s face it, this defense has helped give up the second-most goals in the league and can use some help anyway they can get it. In fact, I thought this was an interesting segment from a Fansided article the other day:

“Only two of the Panthers’ seven usual defensemen have a positive xG differential, and only four have a positive Corsi differential. One of the defensemen who is positive in both metrics is MacKenzie Weegar, and since he went out injured, the Panthers defense has taken a notable dive down. He may be playing above his head, but when one injury can derail the defense group to this degree, depth becomes a major question mark.
Weegar’s presence balances out the minutes Joel Quenneville and Mike Kitchen allot to their defensemen. It allows them to “shelter” Keith Yandle at even strength, give Aaron Ekblad a more stable partner which amplifies his strengths, and more notably, keeps either Josh Brown or Mark Pysyk out of the lineup. Both Brown and Pysyk have been serious liabilities on the back end, especially Pysyk, who is having his worst season as a Panther yet.”


As excited as I am regarding the #52 info, I’m even more pumped on the Driedger news.

I think this says a lot about this coaching staff and it’s a good thing. They could easily start Bob, but they’re choosing to put the rookie in.

And why not?

Bob is averaging close to four goals a game. It feels like his angles are off or something. The goal Richard Panik scored on him Wednesday was a good example of that. Granted, that was a nasty shot in the far corner, but Bob seemed to be slightly out of position and I think he knew it – as evident by his body language when he realized it whizzed by him.

I believe the decision to start Driedger is a strategic one. Aside from the reward aspect, I think the bigger idea behind it is to send a message to Bob and hopefully light a fire under him. Both he and the coaching staff know he’s not playing like a $10 million dollar guy, so much so, that the bench boss is willing to take a gamble and go with a guy that has less than a handful of NHL games under his belt. It’s even more interesting when you factor in that there’s been two days off since the last game and a favorable schedule coming up in terms of gaps between games (minus the back-to-back weekend against Columbus and San Jose).

I also think they’re hoping to catch some lightning in a bottle with Driedger. He’s played well with the Thunderbirds and I have no doubt in my mind that the coaching staff is hoping he’ll bring that good play up and help snap their current losing streak. Sometimes a rookie between the pipes doesn’t know he should be nervous, and instead, reacts and doesn’t overthink – yielding positive results. The other effect is that you see the guys around him usually step up their game in order to help ease the rookie into the game and sort of “protect” him as he makes his transition to the NHL ranks.

I’m really eager to see how he plays if he does in fact get the nod…

Catfish on the Menu

The Mustard Tigers come into the BB&T Center with an almost-identical record (12-9-4) to Florida. They’re experience a little bit of a down season compared to the success they’ve had in the past few years.

Florida will have a prime opportunity to jump on these guys as they’re starting Juuse Saros, who has had his struggles this season with a 3-5-2 record and 3.06 GAA.

The Cats will need to have a gameplan to shut down Nashville’s leading scorer, defenseman Roman Josi. As much as I don't like Nashville, Josi is an impressive player.

The game plan should be the same that it’s been in terms of offense. The Cats have poured pucks on the net and outshot the opposition numerous times, but it’s have gotten some bad puck luck or ran into hot goalies. At this point, we know the defense can’t really get the job done (just do the basics guys and clear the zone), so we need the offense to kick into gear and fill the back of the net.
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Let’s get it done and get back in the win column, boys!

Go Panthers!

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