Cats Drop A Toughie

A quick intro -- My name is Andrew Imber, and I have been a Panthers fan since their creation. I lost my way for a couple of years early in the decade, but that is a story for another day. I am a half-season ticket owner, and live and die with the Cats. The result from the previous game dictates my mood until the next one.

So tonight, the Panthers basically lost sight of the Southeast Division for good, with a tough 3-1 loss to the Capitals. I didn't quite realize how good that team was. Florida did a great job matching their intensity, but could not capitalize (no pun intended) on extended one man and two man advantages late in the game. The officiating was horrendous for most of the game, and Washington scored the game winner as a direct result of that horrible officiating. Not only was the Panthers penalty a shady call, but also the officials missed two blatant calls against Washington before the goal was scored. Don't get me wrong, Florida blew it themselves as well. But you can't help but feel like Florida got shafted for much of this one by the zebras.

My current thoughts:

This officiating bias needs to end. Florida now has one powerplay attempt in the first two periods of the last three games. That's one powerplay in six periods. All their powerplays are coming in the third period, an obvious sign of make up calls.

Speaking of powerplays, Florida needs to take advantage of them when they actually get them. If Florida is able to score on a two man advantage, we're probably talking about a win tonight. Florida could have scored on the two man advantage, and either scored again on the powerplay or brought the game all the way to overtime.

Don't you just want to punch Mike Green? And not in the, he's a punk way, but in the stop killing our team way?

If Florida does sneak into the playoffs, Washington is not a team I'd want to face. They play too much like us, with more skill on the front end. We have much more talent on the backend and in goal, but that won't always get the job done. We really lack a true scorer, and that has to be addressed in the offseason. I honestly think I'd rather play Boston.

Florida's game against the Leafs this Tuesday is a must-win. It's the last game on the schedule for the month of February you can look at and honestly say the Cats SHOULD win. Every other game is either a toss-up or a difficult matchup.

Is there anything more frustrating than watching a number one seed blow a game against a team we need to lose? First San Jose loses to Carolina on Thursday, and now Boston loses to Philadelphia today. Both of those games were at the home of the number one seeds. Do your job guys!

Isn't it nice to see teams like the Rangers and Canadiens finally coming into our field of vision? Tonight's loss really hurt our endeavor of catching them, but they really aren't that far away.

We're once again seeing how hard it is to dig out of an early season hole. We have been one of the best teams in the entire league, and tonight we sit on the outside looking in at the playoff picture again. We start off the season at .500, and we're talking about winning the division right now.

That's it for my opening blog. Check out my boy Marc's blog at http://sunshinehockey.blogspot.com/. Check back in after every Cats game, and I'll try to post my thoughts.

Playoffs or bust.