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Florida Looks to Rebound: Cats vs Hawks |
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Here’s what stood out to me from the 3-2 loss to the Blackhawks on Tuesday night:
Barkov-Less = Lost Cats
No doubt about it, losing Barky for the game unexpectedly in warmups was a big blow to the Cats. You try and tell yourself that one guy doesn’t make that big of a difference, but that was proved wrong Tuesday. He’s been having such a great season, that you sometimes take I for granted.
Its always a big test for a team when a major piece goes down - especially a 1C - and hBarkov’s absence was felt. While I think Acciari did a good job filling the gap, the Hawks pretty much owned the first and second periods.
They’ll have to figure things out because whatever it was that sidelined #16, it’s keeping him out again tonight.
I also read that he will continue to be evaluated the next couple days.
The Replacements
Again, I thought Acciari had a great game stepping up to to help out his team. He notched assists on both goals and and registered 19:48 of ice time. Total glue guy:
“You can't replace that guy," Acciari said of Barkov. "He's very valuable to us. We definitely missed him out there. Whether it's first, second, third or fourth [lines], I'm going to do whatever I can to help the team."
You know who surprised me?
Hinostroza and Connolly.
It felt like Hino was shot out of a cannon. He was all over the ice and setup a lot of the Cats’ prime opportunities. At one point, Eddie Olczyk said he was the best player for Florida and I couldn’t agree more. I think being held out of the lineup as much as he has been has helped give him a chip on his shoulder. Add to that the chance at playing a former team, and he unleashed the fire.
Connolly looked like a completely different player to me. He was playing the way I thought he would be playing when he signed with Florida. He had a couple quality chances and was even mixing it up in scrums.
It felt like a performance of a guy who wants back in the lineup as a regular.
Behind Enemy Lines
Something I noticed from Sunday’s loss to Tampa that seemed to carry over to Tuesday night was Florida allowing Chicago to get behind them in the offensive zone. This was especially apparent in the first five minutes of the game when the Hawks had a slew of chances after flat-out beating the Florida defensemen with their speed.
The Hawks also took advantage of a shaky Stralman and Yandle early on when those two were on the ice.
Credit to the Hawks for using their legs to not only get behind the Panthers’ blueliners and into dangerous areas, but to also beat the Cats to a lot of pucks and control possession.
Lankinen’s Revenge
Lankinen had an 0-2-1 record with a .869 save percentage against Florida heading into Tuesday. I felt like Florida kind of had his number until he got his revenge the other, turning away 33 of 35 shots to earn his first win against the Panthers.
The Cats started to ramp things up in the third and had a good amount of pressure/opportunities (especially late), but had the door slammed on them by Lanky. I mean...tough night when this kind of save happens to you.
Late to the Party
The Panthers that showed up Tuesday night reminded me of the Panthers of old. They had a slow/sluggish start, were generally out of sorts, and had to resort to desperation play late in the game.
It’s a different game if the level of effort midway/late in the third is there for the beginning.
That’s just how it goes sometimes.
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Did anyone else think Driedger didn’t look quite like himself?
Anyways, time to hop back in the saddle...Go Panthers!
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