For the Panthers’ only road game in the last two and a half weeks of November, the team brought along their dads for the trip to Nashville. Penalty of dads got to celebrate their son scoring a goal because there were 8 of them to go around the team. The opening period looked very similar to the game against Vancouver last week, with six goals scored in the opening period. Tarasov put in another stellar performance between the pipes and did fantastic work to shut down the Predators after they scored two goals in the first period. Some of the more snake-bitten players found the back of the net, which should hopefully lift their confidence going forward. Once Florida’s offence got rolling, it simply didn’t stop until the final buzzer sounded.

Explosive Offence:

The Cats wasted no time getting on the scoreboard. A. J. Greer opened the scoring just 11 seconds into the period. Verhaeghe hunted the puck down behind the Nashville net and found a wide-open Greer, who shot the puck past Saros on the far side; Jones got the secondary assist. Rodrigues doubled the lead after he picked up a rebound from a Balinskis shot, which had Saros far out in the blue paint and a wide-open net for Evan to shoot at; Reinhart had the secondary assist. The Predators fought back, though, with Forsberg able to sneak one past Tarasov about a minute after the Rodrigues goal. Svechkov then tied the game after he picked up a rebound following a kick save by Tarasov.

Similar to Saros on the Rodrigues goal, Tarasov was far out in the blue paint to challenge the initial shooter and left an open net that Svechkov capitalized on. The goal scoring wasn’t finished, as a minute later, Jesper Boqvist scored to give Florida the lead back. Jesper’s goal looked very similar to the one he scored against Carolina in the playoffs. He had lots of speed through the neutral zone and drove the net to beat both the defense and Saros. Reinhart made the pass to Forsling, and Forsling made the pass up to Boqvist with some of the crispest passing of the period. Not to be left out of his line scoring goals, Sam Bennett got in on the action, deflecting in a clearing attempt by Svechkov. No assists on that goal, but Greer made the initial shot that Saros kick saved. It was a chaotic first period that felt very similar to the Canucks game from last week, and the Panthers headed into first intermission with a 4-2 lead. 

Chances:

Forsling scored his first goal of the season just 1:24 into the second period. A hard-rim pass from Mackie Samoskevich from behind the Predators’ net found its way to Gus, who quickly walked the blue line and then made his shot. The puck deflected off a Nashville player and past Saros for the 5-2 lead. That marked the end of Saros’ night, and Annunen came in in relief. That was the only goal of the second period, but there was no lack of scoring chances for each side, as the defense for both teams wasn’t as tight as it could be. Reinhart has had several chances through two periods but hasn’t found the back of the net despite the two assist night. Verhaeghe was similarly robbed in the first period by Saros.

Nashville came in with a harder pushback in the second, forcing Florida to play more of a defensive game. Tarasov came up big late in the period when the Predators got several scoring chances. His highlight of the second period was a save on a puck that he stopped high, but then lost track of it in the ensuing net-front chaos. He was able to keep the puck out of the net by the time the refs blew the whistle. Florida took the 5-2 lead into the final period. 

Strong Finish:

The Panthers ended the match how they started, by scoring plenty of goals. 13 players had points, with 6 players having multi-point nights. A.J. Greer had his best game as a Panther as he scored his second goal of the night to restore the 3 goal lead after the Preds got one back on the power play with a goal from Blankenburg. Greer ended the night with 3 points from his two goals and an assist. Sam Reinhart, after having several close calls with the back of the net, finally found it in the third period. Evan took the first shot that got saved, and Reinhart picked up the rebound to score on the open net to finish off his 3-point night.

A long stretch pass from A.J. Greer found its way to a streaking Carter Verhaeghe for a breakaway and a backhand shot goal to cap off the scoring for the 8-3 win. Greer tied his career high in goals and earned 1st star honors with his 3-point night. Reinhart was the 2nd star, and Verhaeghe earned the 3rd star honors. All three players had a 3-point night, combining for 4G & 5A. Tarasov had a fantastic game and ended the night with 36 saves on 39 SOG with a .923 SV%. Most impressively, all but 1 of Florida’s goals came at even strength. Reinhart’s goal came during the 4v4 when the teams were given offsetting roughing penalties. After a disappointing loss to the Oilers on Saturday, where one bad period tanked their whole game, this was a great bounce-back game for the Cats. The newfound chemistry between Verhaeghe, Bennett, and Greer on the third line looks to be working a treat right now. 

Discover more from Inside The Rink

Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.