NHL Admits Refs Cost Panthers

Not surprisingly, the NHL has admitted that the referees blew a goaltender interference call Tuesday night, which ultimately cost the Panthers the game.

Colin Campbell, NHL’s vice president of operations, made the statement after Toronto’s Colton Orr barreled into Panther’s goaltender Scott Clemmensen. The resulting goal gave the Maple Leafs the lead, and ultimately led them to the victory.

Well, how nice. The NHL almost apologizes in this instance, telling the Panthers, “Hey, we screwed up.”

Big whoop.

Read the rest at the Frozen Lair.

Refs Steal Another Game From Panthers

After a questionable call made the Panthers losers on opening night, an unquestionably bad call did them in again tonight. Goaltender Scott Clemmensen was tackled, leading to the Maple Leafs game winning goal.

If there was ever a time to place a game under protest, it is tonight’s game.

The Panthers are off to their usual lucky ways, having as many as four points stolen from them in the first seven games of the season.

Read the rest at the Frozen Lair.

Panthers Beat Islanders; Powerless Play Continues

On a night where they honored former builder Bill Torrey, the Florida Panthers scored late and hung onto a 4-3 win over the New York Islanders. Radek Dvorak scored the game winning goal in the third period, and the Panthers moved back to .500.

However, things were not all good. The Cats were unable to do anything on the power play again, dropping their convergence rate to 4.4 percent.

Read the rest at the Frozen Lair.

Panthers Crash, Burn on Home Ice

Five days after their most convincing win of the season, the Florida Panthers looked like last year’s bunch that finished in the bottom three of the NHL. The Cats came out flat, and lost to the Dallas Stars 4-1.

The only good news is that the top line finally got a goal, as Stephen Weiss scored one from Michael Frolik and David Booth.

Read the rest at the Frozen Lair.

Panthers Blitz Lightning, Win Second Straight

Some catching up to do – Thursday the Florida Panthers got their first victory of the season over the Calgary Flames. It’s always a great feeling to beat Jay Bouwmeester and Olli Jokinen. The Sun Sentinel breaks down that game.

Last night, in the home opener, the Cats scored four first period goals en route to a 6-0 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Read the rest at the Frozen Lair.

Panthers Blow Game Late, Remain Winless

Despite another strong work ethic game, the Florida Panthers lost for the second time in as many nights. Daniel Sedin scored both Vancouver goals, and Roberto Luongo made 41 saves.

Rusty Olesz scored the Panthers lone goal, on a lucky deflection off a Vancouver defenseman’s skate.

So far, Florida has not led for one second out of 120 minutes of play.

Read the rest here.

Panthers Lose Opener On Questionable Goal

Despite dominating nearly the entire contest, the Florida Panthers lost their opening game against the Edmonton Oilers 3-2. New Panther Marty Reasoner scored a pair of goals, but Shawn Horcoff scored the winning goal off his skate.

The goal was reviewed, where it looked like there was a slight kicking motion, but the call was not overturned.

Read the rest here.

Florida Panthers: Three Reasons For Optimism

In approximately eight hours, the Florida Panthers will open the season in Edmonton, against the 1-0 Oilers. George Richards provides a few details in his write up, including a surprise healthy scratching of Steve Reinprecht.

Before I take things in a positive direction, I will remind everybody that I did pick Florida to finish 14th in the East, I do not expect this team to make the playoffs, and I will root for the tank if this team ends up out of contention early on. However, I do believe the team has a few things going for it that it hasn’t in the past, and here they are.

- Rest for the weary: In previous seasons, the Panthers have entered the season already out of gas (something admitted by players). This has been due to awful preseason scheduling. Luckily, this year that was remedied, and Florida is even the last team to play a game in the NHL. This extra rest should equal a fresh Panthers team out of the gate.

Read the rest at the Frozen Lair.

Panthers Swap Tough Guys

The Florida Panthers have traded enforcer Andrew Peters to the Vancouver Canucks in exchange for tough guy Darcy Hordichuk.

This is looked at by most as an upgrade, which is strange, considering it’s a Florida-Vancouver trade.

The USA Today reports here.

Read the rest at the Frozen Lair.

Panthers Fail to Sign Gudbranson, Heads Back to OHL

The deadline to sign draft picks came and went today, and the Florida Panthers did not get third overall pick Erik Gudbranson signed. Harvey Fialkov of the Sun Sentinel reports on this here.

Money issues were cited as a reason, and Gudbranson will go back to his Kingston team in the Ontario Hockey League.

It has certainly been a frustrating day for Panthers’ fans (I feel like I’ve typed this before) – losing Michael Grabner earlier on waivers, and now knowing Gudbranson will not get a chance to play in the pros this year.

Read the rest here.

Grabner Claimed By Islanders

A little over ten minutes ago, the news Florida Panthers‘ fans were hoping not to hear rolled in from Bob McKenzie’s twitter page.

“@TSNBobMcKenzie: Michael Grabner claimed by NYI on waivers.”

That means the Panthers lose him for nothing, and the Keith Ballard trade now stands at Ballard and Victor Oreskovich for Steve Bernier and a late first rounder (Quinton Howden).

Read the rest here.

2010-11 NHL Predictions

This is a brief blog, noting what I predict to happen in the NHL this season.

Eastern Conference

Atlantic Division
Y – Pittsburgh Penguins (2nd seed)
X – Philadelphia Flyers (4th seed)
X – New Jersey Devils (5th seed)
New York Rangers (9th seed)
New York Islanders (15th seed)

Northeast Division
Y – Boston Bruins (3rd seed)
X – Buffalo Sabres (6th seed)
X – Ottawa Senators (7th seed)
Montreal Canadiens (11th seed)
Toronto Maple Leafs (13th seed)

Southeast Division
Y – Washington Capitals (1st seed)
X – Tampa Bay Lightning (8th seed)
Atlanta Thrashers (10th seed)
Carolina Hurricanes (12th seed)
Florida Panthers (14th seed)

Find the rest of the picks here.

Panthers Swept; Waive Grabner

Friday night, in their first (and only) home preseason game, the Florida Panthers lost to the Tampa Bay Lightning, 2-1 in overtime. Jason Garrison tied things in the third, before the Cats lost in the extra session. Check out Yahoo’s game recap for more.

Last night, the Bolts completed the home and home sweep with a 4-1 victory on home ice. Jacob Markstrom finally got his first full game, but still has to season his game. He should be sent to Rochester and be ready to take over soon, perhaps even by next season. More on this game is found at The Miami Herald’s website.

In more shocking news (and we’re not even talking about the Lightning anymore), Michael Grabner has reportedly been put on waivers. George Richards of On Frozen Pond has posted this on twitter, but there is no other link at the moment. If he gets claimed, that means the Panthers traded Keith Ballard for Steve Bernier and a late first round pick (Quinton Howden).

Read the rest here.

Former Panther Bouwmeester Dissed

This week, new TSN panelist and former NHL forward, Michael Peca shared some thoughts about ex-Florida Panthers defenseman Jay Bouwmeester.

According to The Globe and Mail, a Canadian based news source, Peca described Bouwmeester in this story, in following way:

“[Peca] suggested Bouwmeester was a casual player, relatively easy to play against, who turned pucks over and lacked a sense of urgency in his game.”

During his time as a Cat, many people credited Bouwmeester with being a strong, smooth skating defenseman that lacked intensity. After he left, fans’ opinions of him continued to get worse.

Read the rest here.