FLORIDA PANTHERS: 2-4-0 (4 PTS.) vs. NASHVILLE PREDATORS: 2-3-0 (4 PTS.)

TSN Gameday

GAME DAY SONG:  Cage The Elephant: Come A Little Closer

After six games the Florida Panthers have proved to be very good at one thing.  Inconsistency.  It’s not meant to be a slap in the face, but the bitter reality is that the Florida Panthers are their own worst enemy.  Strong effort, followed by poor effort, followed by good effort, followed by…….. You get the idea.  The frustrating part is that it’s been their track record for quite sometime, not just this season.  Even when they won the division in 2011-2012, the tail end of the season found them to be lacking something.  Fortunetly that season, other teams weren’t playing much better, allowing them to clinch the Southeast division.  It was however built by their early season success.

The team that lost to Los Angeles on Sunday by a score of 3-0, looked nothing like the team that beat Pittsburgh 6-3 Friday.  Even with a couple line changes for Sunday’s game, the results weren’t there.  Coach Kevin Dineen put Scott Gomez on a line with Jonathan Huberdeau and Kris Versteeg.  A move that this writer felt was overdue.  The line was for the most part the best offensive line of the night (despite a -3 plus/minus), but couldn’t bury their chances.  The move allowed Marcel Goc to slide back to the third line, and have Tomas Kopecky and Scottie Upshall on his wings.  That line also had some good moments,  and is really where Goc belongs because of the strength of his defensive game.  Of the 20 shots that Florida tossed at Kings goaltender Ben Scrivens, less than one of them were challenging.  Well, maybe a couple, but you get the idea.  There has to be more net presence, better quality scoring chances have to be generated, and instead of being cute and waiting for the perfect shot, more shots on must be generated. [Read more...]