\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tBeing Competitive:<\/p>\n
It\u2019s not in this team\u2019s DNA to quit, roll over, and die. The scores won\u2019t reflect that, but with the lineup they\u2019re icing it, it\u2019s not surprising the results. Everyone is competing to the best of their ability. Tkachuk and others have talked about walking into each game with the mindset to win. The Islanders\u2019 game final score was a blowout, with the Cats having a poor second period. Granted, that\u2019s all it takes to lose a game, but they held the lead heading into the first intermission and kept the game scoreless in the third. Against the Rangers, things were scoreless until the third period. Bobrovsky had a good game, stopping 18 of 20 shots for a .900 SV%. Not his greatest game of the year, but a solid performance given the team in front. Ekblad spoke to the media following the Rangers game and said, \u201cBack-to-backs are one of the toughest things to do in this league, and everybody put in their best foot forward, and not the outcome we wanted.\u201d Samoskevich got a goal late to spoil the shutout for Shesterkin. He said to the media, \u201cIt\u2019s a weird one for sure, but I\u2019ll take it.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tHealthy Tkachuk Is A Problem:<\/p>\n
Some nights it feels like Tkachuk is trying to single-handedly ruin that tank for the Cats. That was jokingly the sentiment from fans as Matthew gave Florida a 2-0 lead over the Islanders after the first period, where he scored two highlight-reel goals. The backhand between the legs shot over Sorokin\u2019s shoulder is one of the nastiest goals this season. HC Paul Maurice, after the game, said, \u201cIncredible hands on him, and it\u2019s not for show. That was probably the most efficient and best way for him to get the puck by the goalie\u2026He\u2019s just got an incredible awareness of where goalies are and where the puck is and where his body is.\u201d Since his return to the lineup, he\u2019s put up 27 points in 26 games, split between 12 goals and 15 assists. That\u2019s the same clip of points production he had during last season\u2019s playoffs, where he posted 23 points in 23 games (8G, 15A). Before his injury at Four Nations, he put up 57 points in 52 games, and I wouldn\u2019t be surprised to see him around in the 80-90 point mark again next season if he can keep himself healthy. He could even be up around the 100-point mark again if things go positively for him. His shooting percentage this season is at a 15.4%, which is well within the range of the 12.4% and 16.6% he had in the two seasons where he hit 100 points. The team has certainly missed all that he brings to the lineup, and he\u2019s been their best offensive weapon since returning.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tEying The Top Five:<\/p>\n
Two straight losses have put the Panthers in the top 5 for the draft lottery. For these matches, the Cats\u2019 injury list had Bennett, Rodrigues, Reinhart, Lundell, Marchand, Barkov, Gadjovich, Schwindt, Balinskis, and Mikkola, plus A.J. Greer out with suspension against the Islanders. Needless to say, their center situation is a bit dire at the moment, with Luostarinen tasked with playing top-line center alongside Tkachuk and Verhaeghe. The bright side is that the first-round pick is looking more and more secure with each loss. Less than ten games to go until the team gets a full offseason for the first time in three years. Although I doubt it\u2019s what the players want. As Sam Bennett said during Game 7 against the Leafs last year, \u201cI wasn\u2019t ready to stop playing hockey.\u201d Fans will be keeping an eye on where they land in the draft lottery. As long as they stay within the top 8, they should be set with their first-round pick. While the losing isn\u2019t fun, it is necessary for the future success of the team. Adding in a top-tier talent from the draft to an already Cup Contender team would be huge to extending the Cup window.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Being Competitive: It\u2019s not in this team\u2019s DNA to quit, roll over, and die. The scores won\u2019t reflect…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":532002,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5102],"tags":[62,57,5141,5,4,63],"class_list":{"0":"post-532001","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-florida-panthers","8":"tag-florida","9":"tag-florida-panthers","10":"tag-floridapanthers","11":"tag-hockey","12":"tag-nhl","13":"tag-panthers"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116321008148467991","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/532001","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=532001"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/532001\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/532002"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=532001"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=532001"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=532001"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}