Please see the two-word recap for Monday’s 3-1 win below:
Anton Khudobin.
Seriously. The guy was unbelievable. In a game where the Panthers did pretty much everything right, they almost had the game stolen from them by one man.
Not to spend too much time on the opposing goalie’s performance, but it if you’re a fan of the game, you no doubt appreciated that display of goaltending. I mean, the guy faced 52 shots. 52! Somehow he only allowed two to get by him. There could have easily been a lot more biscuits in the basket for Florida. The wild thing is that the Panthers poured on 29 shots in the second period alone. Sometimes that’s a team’s total for an entire game!
If I’m Dallas, I know who’s starting for me tonight. Hats off to #35.
Anyways...
I thought the Cats played really well once they corrected that bump start of a first period. They only gave up one man-advantage opportunity and obviously peppered the net with plenty of rubber.
Dallas has played something like six games less than the rest of the division due to multiple COVID protocols and the terrible situation in Texas the past couple weeks. This time away seems to have disrupted their rhythm/flow, and with key injuries with Seguin, Radulov, Johns, and Bishop, they have a tough road ahead.
But their not out. Florida needs to keep an eye on the Stars’ defense, who are big, strong and offensively gifted - often generating a lot of Dallas’ chances from the backend.
Florida is seeing some nice production from the blueline as well. Ekblad’s goal Monday night (his sixth) put him in a three-way tie with Darnell Nurse (EDM) and Jeff Petry (MTL) for most goals by a defenseman thus far. Similar to Weegar, I feel like Ekblad has become a different player under Q and he’s winning me over. Hey...Yandle found the back of the net too.
Let’s see if the Panthers can repeat that (incredible) second period again. From the Cats’ website:
“In addition to receiving timely goals from Ekblad and Yandle, the Panthers finished the middle frame with comically lopsided advantages over the Stars in shots (29-4), shot attempts (42-5), high-danger shot attempts (9-0) and scoring chances (19-1), according to NaturalStatTrick.com.”
Very impressive numbers. Almost unbelievable, really. Maybe some numbers nerds out there can help me understand this graph...
[Image from NaturalStatTrick.com]
Not to be lost in the frenzy of the second period, endless shots, and Hornqvist’s fight, was Driedger’s 24 (out of 25) save night, which improved his record to 7-1-1. I feel like we’re seeing the writing on the wall that Driedger is the guy going forward - especially with Jameson Olive reporting today that Q is putting #60 between the pipes again tonight.
Per Q:
“He made a couple big saves after the first goal. I thought he settled down a little bit. In the third there he still found a way to battle and kept his composure in tight situations. He does what he has to do. I like the way he keeps moving on here."
Those last two sentences make me think that Q (and maybe the team?) have more confidence in Driedger’s mental game. We could go into a lengthy discussion about this aspect of the game, which is arguably more difficult for goalies, but Driedger does seem to be mentally tough out there. I don’t think he dwells too much on goals he’s given up. He seems to have a short memory and is able to refocus and move forward.
To quote Gandalf,
“My heart tells me that Gollum (Bob) has some part to play yet, for good or ill…"
I really think that Bob is going to come up big at some point in this season. He’s currently 5-2-1 and has had a couple really good outings as of late. It could be that Bob’s biggest weakness is Bob. I think he battles himself - and is undoubtedly working through the constant scrutiny of a disappointing season last year after signing a massive contract/being outplayed by a guy making a fraction of what you make - and is clawing his way back to form.
Regardless, this Panthers team is not only fun to watch, but they’re much different than what we’re used to seeing and I hope it continues because it feels like there’s something special brewing here.
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Go Panthers!
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