New York -- The faint heart beat you hear is from the Florida Panthers. After three straight defeats at the hands of the New York Rangers, the Panthers are clinging to life in the NsHL playoffs.
Game five is played in the most famous building in all of sports, Madison Square Garden, and it could be the spot where the Cats play their final game of the season.
The truth is it's been a dream ride for the three time defending Southeast Division champs. On the night of the trade deadline the team was far back and out of the playoff picture. In fact, they were SELLERS! Who remembers the terrific Sergei Zubov trade? This deal between Calgary and Florida will go down as a potential Cup winning move for one GM and the reason the other gets fired.
Getting back to the Panthers fortunes, they seemed to turn around at the deadline. They won that night and then rattled off 15 more wins to close out the season. They caught the Washington Capitals for the division crown and finished third in the Conference. A remarkable job even if the season would've ended then.
But the playoffs began and the underdog Panthers took out both the Ottawa Senators and New Jersey Devils. In fact, they took a 1-0 series advantage over the Blueshirts. But this is where the fairy tale seems to have ended. Three straight wins by New York, the last two in Florida, and the fat lady has started to prepare her singing voice.
Tomorrow is game five in the Rangers barn and they have a chance to step on the throat of a dangerous opponent. Who thinks the defending NsHL Champions will play it soft and let their foe off the canvass?
Today at the rink the Panthers were hard at work. A full-out practice with a very surprising twist. All the lines were changed. SAY WHAT!!
Make that a shocking twist ... IronMike doesn't change anything. Get it ... the Iron part is not just a name, it was EARNED the old fashioned way!
"Yeah, some parts have been moved around," said the GM. "It goes against everything I believe in, but we owe it to the players and the fans to try and get this series turned around. Nobody in the room feels like this is the end. We can still make things very difficult for the Rangers. We just need to play our game."
Some of the observations from today's skate included, no power-play time for Jay Bouwmeester, a reduced role for Robert Lang and for the first time a goalie change could be in the works. Ty Conklin has seen every second in the post-season but it could be time for Tim Thomas to play his first game.
No comments:
Post a Comment