Daily Archives: March 5, 2013
Panthers’ Goals Against Problem Has No Easy Fix
Shortly after Scott Clemmensen surrendered the second goal of the first period against the Carolina Hurricanes on Sunday night, the boos began to rain down from the stands. A chant of “We want Markstrom” formed shortly after. It appeared that the Panthers crowd finally lost all patience with the veteran backstop, and for good reason: Clemmensen’s stats this year are simply subpar to say the least, and four crappy periods against the division rival Hurricanes would sink his numbers even further.
At intermission, the venom spewed in Clemmensen’s direction was reaching an all-time high: fans on Twitter demanded that Clemmensen be subbed out in favor of the young Jacob Markstrom, who was totally not in a position to play after not practicing for days and just getting his pads at around the time the puck dropped. At least a couple fans even maintained that they would refuse to renew their season tickets if Dineen didn’t pull Clemmensen. And maybe the Panthers coach might’ve consideredswitching the struggling netminder out in favor of the potentialed Swede, if he thought it would make any difference.
Headline News: Florida Panther Center Stephen Weiss Out For The Season
Stephen Weiss. Image property of Michael Miller from Wikimedia Commons
As if the injury bug hasn’t bitten the Florida Panthers enough over the past two seasons, the team announced this morning that veteran center Stephen Weiss will be out for the remainder of the season. General manager Dale Tallon made the announcement indicating that Weiss will need season ending surgery on his wrist. Prior to making the announcment of the Weiss injury, the organization had recalled forward Jonathan Rheault from the San Antonio Rampage, causing inquiring minds to begin asking questions of that move. As of right now the Florida Panthers have lost 79 man games to injury. A full repeat of last season which saw them lose well over 300 over the course of the 82 game schedule.
Here’s the video of General Manager Dale Tallon speaking to the media.
It’s been very well documented that Weiss was in the thick of a subpar season to this point in the year. After 17 games, the long time veteran centerman of the Panthers had one goal and three assists, and his minus rating was at -13. Those statistics, as well as the injury could not have come at a worse time for Weiss who is in the final year of a six year contract, that also had a no trade clause.
Game Day Preview: Winnipeg Jets vs. Florida Panthers
WINNIPEG JETS: 10-10-1 (21 PTS.) vs. FLORIDA PANTHERS: 6-11-5 (17 PTS)
Tonight’s meeting between the Winnipeg Jets and the Florida Panthers will be the third of five between the two Southeast division teams. Each team has won a game on home ice, with the Panthers winning 6-3 on January 31st when Alex Kovalev scored the winning goal, and Winnipeg won on February 5th in overtime when Brian Little scored the game winner as the Jets beat the Panthers 3-2. The Jets begin a four game road swing that takes them to Tampa on Thursday and then right back here in Sunrise on Friday before they head to New Jersey on Sunday to finish their trip. They’ll be looking for their third consecutive road win this evening and are 6-4-1 away from the MTS Center overall.
The Jets now find themselves in the thick of the Eastern Conference playoff hunt after winning three of their last four which included two victories New Jersey Devils and one against the New York Rangers. The winning streak came to a halt when the Jets were shutout by the Washington Capitals 3-0 in a game that saw Winnipeg outshoot the Caps 31-8 in the first two periods. Brayden Holtby of Washington however played an outstanding game for Washington, and held the Jets at bay. One of the problems for the Jets has been their power play which sits near the bottom of the league with a 14.3% success percentage. Claude Noel the Winnipeg coach spoke about it after the loss to Washington:
“We probably could have used one on the power play,” coach Claude Noel said. “The power play will probably be a topic because [the media] can’t think past the stats. I thought that our power play was better than it has been.”
Jameson Cooper
David Lasseter
gabbykiger
Amanda Land
Paige Lewis
Scott Mullin
Frank Rekas
