I was at the game and feel the need to make a few points. Again the Panthers were out muscled. All we do is poke check or hand check. We take no one hard into the boards and allow their forward to skate around us. Matheson was a perfect example again last night of not knowing what to do with the puck and attempting to stick check on the Blues last goal. Bottom line, defense sucks. When and if this team ever makes the playoffs, they will be gone in the first round cause they dont know how to play a physical game. You praised their PP which is very good. However they were awful in even strength situations. You have to be able to score 5 on 5. Now we face Pittsburgh Thursday night and unless there is a miracle, we are in for the same crap.
- GudbransonFan
Thanks for sharing your insight from the game.
I do agree that the Panthers lack some physicality and most teams are always looking to tweak the defense if they can, but I've been trying to stay on the positive side when writing these columns.
The Cats are an interesting team because they can go either way in my opinion. I could see them going on a tear or staying stagnant. Only time will tell.
There's actually a lot of parallels between them and the Blackhawks to me in terms of lack physicality (though the Hawks have guys like Hayden help in that department). I know the game is going to speed, but I agree that you can't discount the importance of hard, physical play. The Hawks are also similar on the blue line in a sense that for the past number of years, it seems they've decided to follow the league trend of undersized defensemen that want to be forwards, rather than blueliners; except for Murphy, who is a bit more old school (which is refreshing). I'd love for the Panthers to get one or two stay-at-home guys that focus on defense and can help anchor the line, but those guys can be tough to find - especially when the playoffs are on the horizon and teams (who are in the race) are looking to bulk up with/keep guys like that.
I'm thinking there's going to be some moves before the TDL, and if they're active, it should be cool to see what the Cats do and how they'll look with some new faces in the mix.
Guess we'll have to wait and see, but it's not all doom and gloom IMO