With the Panthers ownership situation finally settled in we can go back to the business of hockey.
Good matchup in Sunrise tonight as the Islanders come to town fresh off last night's overtime win in Raleigh.
Side note: How bad are things in Carolina right now? These guys were in the east finals last year and have now tied the franchise record for consecutive losses, a record set by those lovable Hartford Whalers.
Fourteen straight losses? How does that happen?
Anyway, John Tavares -- the top pick in what is known in these parts as the Dmitry Kulikov Draft -- and the Isles are in town. They didn't skate but did some off-ice stuff at The Billboard this morning.
-- Pete DeBoer says he has talked to David Booth about his joining the team for the upcoming Buffalo-Detroit-New York trip although Booth hasn't even started skating yet. I think Booth makes the trip and it's cool DeBoer made the offer. This will be the second time the Panthers have visited Booth's hometown with him on the roster and the second time Booth will miss the game against his hometown Wings because of injury.
At least he can have one of those world famous Buffalo Tofu Salads.
-- Not much else going on. Tomas Vokoun in net. Duh.
c'mon CATS!!
Posted by: GR fan no.1!! | November 14, 2009 at 03:09 PM
How could Horton be 1st star tonight? Weiss made a highlight goal and a highlight assist.
Posted by: Gretzkysdad | November 14, 2009 at 11:22 PM
Up-To-Date
Stat to watch as the season wears on.
As of 05:00AM on 11/15/09.
Vokoun $5.7mil 14GP 5-8-1 2.81GA .922%SP 3SHT
Anderson $1.5mil 19GP 11-5-3 2.42GA .926%SP 2SHT
Clemmensen $1.0mil 4GP 2-1-0 5.13GA .838%SP 0SHT
Reach your own conclusion on the key personnel decision of this past off-season.
Posted by: Georgia Panther | November 15, 2009 at 05:02 AM
Great shootout win for the Panthers.
However, they still are sleepwalking through the first period. I'm sure Vokoun would like to see some defense in the first period instead of just the last two periods. That kind of start could destroy them against real teams such as the Caps.
Posted by: FLA Kittens | November 15, 2009 at 08:47 AM
I'll say get rid of Reinprecht, he is our saviour and had not scored in couple games. geez...
Posted by: Season Ticket Holder?...Never!! | November 15, 2009 at 11:25 AM
georgia, Anderson was horrific yesterday, clearly the conclusion is Vokun is an allstar and the other two are real nice backups...
Posted by: ag | November 15, 2009 at 12:45 PM
Ag,
Vokoun wasn't so hot himself sometimes last year and made a real good backup for quite a few games.
Also, since we are looking at horrific play, how about October 9th when Vokoun gave up 5 goals on 26 shots over the span of two periods?
Posted by: hmmm | November 15, 2009 at 02:28 PM
If these guys played stellar every minute of every game, we wouldn't be calling them NHL goalies. You'd be calling them Superman and expecting them to save the world. Sheesh, I swear, Florida fans have no patience and no clue when they have something good.
Fact is, over a period of a career, Vokoun has been the most consistent player of the three and has shown he can play 50+ games at a higher level. That's the number one thing a team looks for, especially with a poor defense. Anderson hasn't shown that yet, altho he was considered a promising player while in Chicago. Clems will never show that.
Horton will be the next chased out of town and then Vokoun, and Florida fans will never understand why they lose player after player, only to have them turn into stars in other organizations.
Posted by: Clash | November 15, 2009 at 05:26 PM
clash...agreed...but thats fans all over....i used to watch richter get booed, and now his jersey hangs from the rafters...
Posted by: ag | November 15, 2009 at 05:40 PM
howlongwilldavidboothbeoutfromcathysiren
Posted by: cathysiren | November 15, 2009 at 08:27 PM
foraslongasittakesfortheheadachestostop... sorry... I couldn't resist...
Posted by: di | November 15, 2009 at 08:56 PM
Vokoun has 3 shutouts this year plus .926% at this point of the season, obviously goaltending is NOT the biggest flaw this team needs to overcome.
Posted by: Rene | November 16, 2009 at 01:52 AM
If you look at the contract situations of current players on the roster, you'll see that this club was signing those that they could "build" around long term to long deals(Ballard, Weiss, Booth, Horton, Olsez etc.) and everyone else to 1-2 year deals. All they(management) were waiting for was the ownership situation to be resolved so they can start shipping a lot of these vets(with only a year left or expiring contracts) off for picks in the upcoming draft. It sucks, but it makes sense.
Posted by: Mase | November 16, 2009 at 11:38 AM