Sweet as Candy
Do or die a little more. Lately, several NHL teams have this very thought, every game day. With both conferences still sorting out playoff seeding (Save for The Bruins clinching in the East, and The Sharks and the Red Wings in the West) you can’t help but notice a few fresh faces in the pack of teams in the hunt for the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Like many fans, I plan to watch as many of the playoff series as I can fit in, and seeing some different logos battling their way through round one makes it a little sweeter. Okay, we still have a few weeks of the stretch drive left. Maybe I’m getting a little ahead of myself, but darn it...these are exciting times. This week I am taking a look at teams not normally seen in the playoffs.
In the east, we have the Florida Panthers, a team we haven’t seen in the post season for seven seasons. You must ask yourself: Can I handle another post season without the defensive/offensive stylings of Jay Bouwmeester? The heralded, highly touted, name dropped countless times leading up to the trade deadline, Bouwmeester has yet to play an NHL playoff game. Wouldn’t it be a treat to see the guy play on National TV in a playoff series? Sweet as Candy for the Panther fans, I say.
And what about that other defenseman, Brian McCabe?? It’s been a while for McCabe, but he does have 51 playoff games with the Leafs under his belt. Must...see...McCabe...on...ice...in...playoffs....
I checked out a recent fan poll on nhl.com asking which coach is most deserving of the Jack Adams Coach of the Year award, and Panthers head coach Peter DeBoer has just over seven percent of the vote. Okay, he’s in last place on the pole, but you know he’s number one in Panthers GM, Jacques Martin’s heart. DeBoer is a Memorial Cup winning coach, with a law degree, guiding his team through these last tense weeks before playoffs begin, in his first year as an NHL coach.
Surfing around the Cats official website, I came across a fan blog, VanMurph’s to be exact, and he mentioned a coach DaBoer quote... "The way the conference is going to flip-flop back and forth for the next three or four weeks we’re not going to throw any parties when we’re in fifth and we’re not going to have any funerals if we fall to eighth or ninth. That’s how this is going to go for the next few weeks. It’s nice to be in the middle of it."
VanMurph had a thing or two to say about the fan base. He actually called them out for being too quiet, or as he put it, like a dinner theatre. VanMurph finished his rant with...
"There’ll be plenty of time for moping around as soon as our season is over, but right now this should be the most exciting time in any Florida Panthers fan’s life."
Monday night’s game against the Carolina Hurricanes should be considered the most important game of the year for the Panthers. What the heck, aren’t they all important?? A win will put them back into the top eight, and if the return of Nathan Horton from a finger injury factors in the win at all...then the Cats will feel all the more confident.
The team is committed to securing a spot in the East’s top eight just so, at the very least, purse carrying Panther fans can smuggle in some plastic rats for Round One. Not to throw on the ice...just for good luck....
Panther tidbits...Congrats to Panthers Tomas Vokoun, he celebrated his 500th career NHL game last week. And a little more about the Cats defensive core: they are highest scoring group of blue liners in the NHL with a total 43 goals.
Next up, The Columbus Blue Jackets...
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