Goal Horn! Note the 3pm start.
America's greasiest NHL team is coming to town for Black Friday in a weird weekday day game for whatever reason, so let's all welcome them with the raspberries they deserve. Seriously, this one should be fun. And it would have been a matchup of Division leaders had the Panthers not started to drift a bit in the last week and change. They had dropped 4 in a row before whomping Toronto on Wednesday in what was clearly a statement game, seeing as how it was the Leafs who had shot past them to the Division lead. The Kitties won't be inclined to let their attention drift against Carolina either, one would think.
The Canes meanwhile and killing time waiting for a goalie to get healthy and having fun in the process. Sure, the goals against numbers are taking a hit along with Spencer Martin's ability to defend blocker side shots, but at least the offense has come to play. Florida's D group probably took the brunt of their salary cap issues over the last two years, so the Canes should be able to find some room in that back end and put some volume pressure on Bob or Knight (but not Bobby Knight, since he's a ghost*) if they can keep things mostly at 5v5. Florida loves to suck a good team down in the mud with them, and this would be a nice time to show off some team discipline. Also, it would be nice if Brindy bit the ego bullet a bit and went ahead and moved Aho's line off of Barkov's for once. It's a bad matchup and you're at home. You can do what every other coach does and put your checking line on the other team's best center. It's allowed.
So ... get that shopping done early and let's get it in gear for the defending champs. Tkachuk ain't gonna boo himself, after all.
America's greasiest NHL team is coming to town for Black Friday in a weird weekday day game for whatever reason, so let's all welcome them with the raspberries they deserve. Seriously, this one should be fun. And it would have been a matchup of Division leaders had the Panthers not started to drift a bit in the last week and change. They had dropped 4 in a row before whomping Toronto on Wednesday in what was clearly a statement game, seeing as how it was the Leafs who had shot past them to the Division lead. The Kitties won't be inclined to let their attention drift against Carolina either, one would think.
The Canes meanwhile and killing time waiting for a goalie to get healthy and having fun in the process. Sure, the goals against numbers are taking a hit along with Spencer Martin's ability to defend blocker side shots, but at least the offense has come to play. Florida's D group probably took the brunt of their salary cap issues over the last two years, so the Canes should be able to find some room in that back end and put some volume pressure on Bob or Knight (but not Bobby Knight, since he's a ghost*) if they can keep things mostly at 5v5. Florida loves to suck a good team down in the mud with them, and this would be a nice time to show off some team discipline. Also, it would be nice if Brindy bit the ego bullet a bit and went ahead and moved Aho's line off of Barkov's for once. It's a bad matchup and you're at home. You can do what every other coach does and put your checking line on the other team's best center. It's allowed.
So ... get that shopping done early and let's get it in gear for the defending champs. Tkachuk ain't gonna boo himself, after all.
