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Panther Report: 2013 IIHF World Championship
With the preliminary round winding down and the quarter finals set to begin this Thursday, the action is just starting to heat up at the 2013 IIHF World Championship. With each team already having competed in at least 6 games, Team Canada and Team Russia have risen to the top of their respective groups. Although no Panthers’ skater has grabbed any headlines throughout the tournament, there have still been some exceptional performances worthy of noting.
Below, I have listed the current statistics for each Panther player represented at the World Championship as well as adding a brief comment on their play.
Brian Campbell (Canada)
GP: 7
G: 0
A:2
Note: As he was for the majority of the season in Florida, defenseman Brian Campbell has been a workhouse for Team Canada so far this tournament. Through 7 games played, Campbell is 2nd on the team in total TOI with 140:23 minutes played. Also, Campbell’s +7 rating is good enough for the best +/- rating on the entire Canadian roster.
Panthers Attending 2013 World Championship
With the Florida Panthers’ season officially over, Panther players will now be moving on to whatever the offseason may hold for them. Some players will take time to nurse nagging injuries, while others may simply take time off before preparing for next season. However, a select few Panthers will have to hold off on hanging up their skates as they get ready to represent their respective countries at the upcoming IIHF World Men’s Championship, May 3-19 in Stockholm, Sweden and Helsinki, Finland.
While Panthers’ rookie Nick Bjugstad was already announced to be participating in the tournament earlier this week, news broke recently that five of his Panther teammates would be joining him overseas.
Florida Panthers Participating in 2013 World Championship
D – Brian Campbell (Canada)
F – Tomas Kopecky (Slovakia)
F – Nick Bjugstad (United States)
F – Marcel Goc (Germany)
F – Tomas Fleischmann (Czech Republic)
G – Jacob Markstrom (Sweden)
Panthers Finally Play Spoiler In Win Over Rangers
The Florida Panthers were reduced to the role of spoiler for other teams fighting for the playoffs weeks ago. Unfortunately for them (and fortunately for those wanting the Cats to finish with the worst record for draft pick purposes), they haven’t been relishing that role. Everyone of the teams the Panthers played during their current six game winning streak were in playoff position and all easily walked away with the two points. That all seemed like good news for Tuesday night’s opponent, the New York Rangers, as they needed two points to clinch a spot in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. As the evening unfolded, the Blue Shirts would only need a win to punch their ticket. That win will have to come another day as the Panthers gutted out a 3-2 win in front of a slanted New York crowd at the BB&T Cetner.
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Game Day Preview: Florida Panthers vs. Boston Bruins. We Ain’t Got It Any More.
FLORIDA PANTHERS: 13-25-6 (32 PTS.) vs. BOSTON BRUINS: 26-12-5 (57 PTS.)
GAMEDAY SONG: Downbound Train-Bruce Springsteen
There really isn’t much to say about this game. The Boston Bruins who are coming off an emotional loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins yesterday afternoon, only because of the chaos that city has dealt with in the past few days, won’t take it easy on the Cats. The Florida Panthers are coming off another disastrous and embarrasing defeat, this time at the hands of the New Jersey Devils by a score of 6-2.
That game for the Panthers started out with Florida on top 2-0 within the seven minutes, getting two goals in less than a minute. But the Devils are in a playoff hunt, and showed that they’re not about to just roll over. But roll over the Panthers is what they did for the remainder of the game, scoring six unanswered goals, including four in the middle period as they took complete control of a Panther’s team that looked once again as though they wanted to board the plane to their next destination.
Panthers Rally Too Little, Too Late Against Capitals
If Florida Panthers fans can find one bright spot in next year’s division realignment plan, it’s that they no longer have to face the Washington Capitals six times a season. Over the past few years, no team has frustrated the Cats more than their division rival from the US capital. This season alone has been a microcosm of that frustration as the Panthers entered Saturday’s game 0-2-1, including a pair of blowout losses on the road. This game took on much of that same look as the Caps built a 4-0 lead through two periods. Despite a furious third period rally, the Panthers fell 4-3 in their final game against Washington as a division opponent.
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Florida Panthers’ Three Stars: March
The Florida Panthers used the month of March to revitalize their season and attempt to climb out of the cellar of the Eastern Conference. Although the team does remain in last place in the East, their inspired play during this past month gave their fans something to cheer about in an otherwise forgettable year. The Panthers’ fought and clawed their way to a 5-10-1 record during the month of March, including winning 4 of their last 7 games.
In a month in which they saw some improvement, three players in particular helped lead the Panthers on most nights and it’s time that we reward them for their contributions.
Here are the Florida Panthers’ three stars for the month of March!
Third Star: Jacob Markstrom
After struggling in his first few starts this season, goaltender Jacob Markstrom has settled down and become the Panthers’ number one goaltender heading into the last month of the season. During the month of March, Markstrom compiled a 5-5-1 record – with his 5 victories being only 1 shy of teammates Jose Theodore and Scott Clemmensen’s combined season total.
The one word that could be used to describe Markstrom’s month is consistency. In his 11 starts this month, Markstrom only allowed more than 3 goals to be scored in 2 games and gave the Panthers a great chance to win every night. Overall, Markstrom allowed 26 goals over his 11 March starts and saved 297 of 323 shots faced – good enough for a .920 save percentage.
Markstrom’s biggest game during the month came in the Panthers 3-1 victory over the New York Rangers on March 21st. Markstrom stopped an astounding 44 of 45 Rangers’ shots and finished the night with a 1.00 GAA / .978 SV%.
Highlight Clip From March:
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Late Heroics Lift Cats Over Devils
For the Florida Panthers, overtime against the New Jersey Devils hasn’t been a pleasant experience of late. In last season’s Stanley Cup Playoffs, the Devils won games 6 and 7 in overtime to rally down from a 3-2 series deficit. Saturday night, the Panthers finally got it right as Dmitry Kulikov’s slap shot from the right face off dot gave them a 3-2 come-from-behind win in front of 18,138 at the BB&T Center.
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Panthers Resilient In Beating Buffalo
If you’ve made your way out to the BB&T Center to see a Florida Panthers home game, you probably haven’t left too often with a smile on your face. Coming into Thursday night’s game against the Buffalo Sabres, the Cats had only won four of 17 games in front of the home folks, the lowest in the National Hockey League. The 17,044 (announced) were treated to number five as the Panthers won a back-and-forth contest that ended with them winning 5-4 in a shootout.
If there’s a common theme in Panthers wins this season, few as they may be, it’s them getting the first goal and Thursday was no different. Shawn Matthias grabbed a rebound of a Tyson Strachan shot at the hashmarks, then used Buffalo defenseman Robyn Regehr as a screen before beating Ryan Miller high, stick side 3:28 into the game. Tomas Fleischmann converted a power play early in the second, converting a gorgeous no-look pass from Tomas Kopecky for a 2-0 lead.
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Panthers Get The Breaks But Not The Win In Toronto
After two games over the past weekend that saw the Florida Panthers produce few great scoring chances and only one goal, the Cats were due to a breakout offensive performance and maybe a couple of lucky bounces wouldn’t hurt them either. They received both as they threw 42 shots on the Toronto Maple Leafs and pocketed two goals from deflections but it wasn’t enough as the Leafs rode two Joffrey Lupul goals over the final 20 minutes to a 3-2 win.
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Game Day Preview: Florida Panthers vs. New York Islanders. Trust Some Of This.
FLORIDA PANTHERS: 9-17-6 (24 PTS.) vs. NEW YORK ISLANDERS: 13-15-3 (29 PTS.)
GAME DAY SONG: Spirit In The Night from 1975. Must see.
The Florida Panthers take on the New York Islanders this evening in the fourth game of a five game road trip, and the second of back to backs. After playing a boring opening period last night against New Jersey and holding Steve Bernier the Devils to two first period shots, and none in the last 16 plus minutes, things perked up a bit in the final 40 minutes. However once again the Panthers fell short, and couldn’t find an answer to Martin Brodeur and the trapping New Jersey style of play, losing 2-1.
Tonight’s matchup is the second of the season between these two teams, which saw the Islanders win last Saturday night 4-3 at the BB & T Center in Sunrise. Holding a very comfortable 3-0 lead going into the final stanza, the Panthers scored three quick goals in 1:43 to tie things up, only to give up the game winner to Casey Cizikas in the closing minutes.
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Jameson Cooper
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