The best thing to come out of the 7-3 thumping the Cats took in New Jersey on Tuesday night was
seeing Alexander Barkov make history when he passed Olli Jokinen for most goals in franchise history after scoring his 189th.
He responded in the most captain way possible:
Congrats to Barky on a great milestone!
Back to that 7-3 loss…
The simplest thing to do as a team/fanbase is bust out the MIB mind-eraser tool, forget about that game, and move on. But the reality is that there's some things in these past couple games that need to be addressed because this squad is not playing the same as they were when they were rolling.
I noticed a team that looked out of sorts (again) and a young goalie with some confidence struggles during the loss to the Devils. But what stood out the most to me was that the Devils had controlled the point with traffic in front all night…
What I mean by that is that three of their seven goals (really six when you don't include the empty-netter) were scored on shots from the point with redirects out front. Florida did a terrible job clearing the blue paint and they paid for it three times as a result. What's even wilder is that there were several other shots from the point that went off the post and crossbar throughout the game. Can you imagine if those found their way in, too? Yikes!
It wasn't too long ago that people were clamoring for Bob to be gone and Knight be the #1, This is what it looks like in combination with a team generally "off." Now... I'm not blaming these losses on Knight by any means because the whole team seems out of sync, but there were some goals that I'm sure we can agree on that Knight would like back from NYR and NJD.
I believe the Knight we saw last season is probably the guy Knight is going to develop into: calm, sound positioning, high confidence, impressive athleticism, and so forth He may have even benefitted a bit from the organization pumping him up a ton (which could have been bad if things went the other way) and the rookie "I'm so excited to get my chance that I'm not overthinking anything and just reacting" mindset, too But now that he's "the guy' while Bob is sidelined, we're seeing a little bit different of a performance from him as the games go on, I give him the benefit of the doubt with the back-to-back games, but his confidence seems to be the most notable thing that looked weakened to me.
In New Jersey he looked overly defeated when scored on. This was a contrast to last year when he seem un-phased after giving up a goal. This was one of greatest weapons in the Knight arsenal because it allowed him to be able to forget about it and move on - which can be tricky for a lot of goaltenders. This was not the case to me in Newark. He also let a couple in that I thought were savable due to being a bit out of position and struggling to read and anticipate the plays unfolding in front of him.
So let me say this before I'm run out by the folks with pitchforks and torches:
I like Knight and believe he is the future in net for Florida, But I stick by my opinion that I have mentioned over the past couple seasons that I think he will benefit tremendously from some seasoning as a true backup - learning the game at the NHL level, progressing, and pushing Bob (or whoever it may be).
And let's also be real that the guys in front of him have not been playing with the same confidence and flow as they were before Everything has been affected by the generally "off nature of these guys as of late.
Which brings us to tonight.
As funny as it sounds to say this about a 10-2-1 team, but I really think this is a very important game for this squad, and probably for the fate of Andrew Brunette..
Back-to-back losses isn't the worst thing for a team with the Cats' record, but it's certainly easy to slip into a losing streak if they continue in the direction they're going. No more of this "Cardiac Cats° silliness, Win faceoffs and stay out of the box. Stop volleying the lead back and forth with the opponent Come out with the talent this team has and win the game decisively.
While Pittsburgh is without their big two (Crosby/Malkin) and own a 4-3-4 record while at the bottom of the Metropolitan Division, there are some things to note that I observed earlier this week when they played the Blackhawks:
Effort
The Penguins never gave up after being down 2-0 and ended up tying it and forcing a shootout
Even though they ended up with the lose, the effort was there and they made it a difficult win for the Hawks.
Jeff Carter
At 36 this guy still has a lot of talent and a lot in the tank. He scored both of the Pens goals in Chicago (his 4015 and 402nd of his career) to put himself on the NHL's list for "Most Goals, Career" at #100. He was also a constant presence around the net - something the Panthers should be aware of since they did not do a good job of clearing the crease Tuesday night.
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Time to hunt…Go Panthers!
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