This game has been circled on the calendar for one reason: the leaping cat returns!
That’s right, after a five-year hiatus, the beloved original logo of the Florida Panthers will make its comeback tonight when the Cats take to the ice in their Reverse Retro sweaters.
While we’re obviously biased on this board, the leaping cat was/is one of the best logos, not only in hockey, but in sports in general (at least in my opinion).
Who were some of your favorite Cats to rock the original threads?
Thursday’s Surprise
No doubt about it, the Panthers surprised me Thursday night with their 5-2 win over Tampa. I honestly thought the game would have ended the opposite way with the Lightning on top.
What stood out to me as the difference-maker was Florida’s aggression. From the opening faceoff, to the final horn, the Panthers never let up.
How pumped do you think Q was with that pace?
One of the key areas that helped the Panthers was in the dot, where they won 60% of faceoffs to Tampa’s 40%. These wins helped the Cats gain/maintain possession and dictate the pace. If you need more proof of that, what better source than the competition:
McDonough is right in his assessment. To me, the Panthers noticeably held onto the puck more Thursday night and dictated the play. Situations where Florida might normally dump and chase, or cough it up, were minimized - only registering five giveaways to Tampa’s nine.
Heading into Tonight
I would keep the lines the exact same.
Striking First
I think you keep the same formula as the first game. And that starts with getting on the board first. Taking the attack to the offensive zone is exactly like what Vatrano said after last game,
“When you get off to a good start like that and get an O-zone shift right away, I think you build that confidence.”
Speaking of Vatrano...how good were the lower lines on Thursday? While lines one and two did their thing, lots of energy and hard work we’re being churned out by the bottom six. Tippett looks better and better each game, too. Only a matter of time before he starts dropping them.
Hot Guys Stay Hot
Five Panthers found the back of the net Thursday night:
Vatrano
Wennberg
Ekblad
Verhaeghe
Connolly
It’s been nice seeing Wennberg find his offensive game. There’s clearly some good chemistry with him and Huby. FYI, Huby got his 300th assist on that goal - NBD.
Ekblad has been off the charts to me. I’m normally not a fan of his game, but he has really tightened things up this year defensively. I don’t see him taking those chances where he pinches in too deep and leaves the backend exposed - forcing a forward to have to cover the blueline. He’s also putting out a great offensive effort by getting shots through (one-timers on the PP) and being rewarded for it.
Special Teams
Florida is the owner of the second-ranked Power Play in the league and went 1/3 on Thursday night. Wicked.
But their penalty kill struggled - allowing two goals on Tampa’s three man-advantage situations. Florida will need to lock the PK down heading into tonight.
Bob
Hats off to Bob for turning away 19 shots to get the win in this “big test” game of this young season.
I’m guessing Driedger will get the nod tonight and will have his shot at the “big test.” I assume Tampa will be bring it hard tonight after last game, so Driedger will have to be ready and the defense will need to hold fast and maintain this stat:
Take Advantage of Outages
According to Jon Cooper, it sounds like Stamford and Anthony Cirelli (among others) could be out:
Q Happy Statements
The more you get Q complimenting an effort and win, the more good you know you’re doing. Put out the effort that gets Q saying these things more often:
“I thought we had a real strong game across the board. I thought all the lines had a lot of speed. We had a lot of possession and zone time. I thought our defensemen had a tremendous gap starting in the offensive zone… I thought it was an excellent game."
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Cold ones are on ice. Snacks-a-plenty and the leaping cat is ready to pounce...Go Panthers!
[Image from Florida Panthers Twitter]
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