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Game #6: New York Islanders |
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The Panthers missed an opportunity beat their struggling in-state rival on Friday night when they fell to Tampa by a score of 3-2 in OT.
Despite looking very good and flying all over the ice, the Cats went 0/5 on the PP yet again. Whereas their opponent capitalized on the man advantage and went 2/7.
First off…don’t give the Lightning seven chances on the PP. Secondly, start scoring on the PP already. I know we all like the direction the man advantage is going, but the reality is they’re not scoring (as usual) and it’s frustrating and costing them games.
There were two plays that stick out from this game as the main contributors to Tampa’s win and they both took place on the Lightning’s Power Play..
#1 Luostarinen Broken Stick
The Panthers were killing a penalty with about seven minutes left in the first period. Luostarinen blocked a Stamkos shot, which broke his stick. Instead of staying on the ice to at least get in lanes or body up on someone, he took off towards the Florida bench to get a new stick. This turned the situation into a 5-3 and left Stamkos (who Tampa runs the PP through) wide open for a one-timer, which he promptly buried.
I have no clue why Lu took off out of the zone while Tampa still had control of the puck, but I left the right side of Bob completely open.
#2 Tkachuk OT Penalty
Tkachuk was called for a penalty 30 seconds into OT after chasing down Kucherov and drawing a slashing call. To be fair, I thought Tkachuk made a good play getting back to distrust Kucherov, it was just unfortunate his stick got up a little high. I think Kucherov was really trying to sell the hit. Tkachuk throwing in the stick shots at the end was probably frustration and him figuring he was going to the box anyway.
This penalty led to a 4-on-3 for Tampa and their ultimate win.
So the Panthers turn their sights to a New York Islanders team they beat on their opening night of the season.
And they’ll be doing it with a new face in the lineup in Eric Staal. I know a lot of fans don’t like this signing, but I’m giving him a chance. I liked a lot of what he had to say and curious if there’s still some gas in the tank for him. Let’s see what he can do.
Look for the Panthers to hopefully be more disciplined tonight and not give NYI any unneeded man advantages.
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Florida Panthers Blogger • 
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