Stars @ Panthers, Game Preview

[Boothinator]

Hubey-Bjugs-Soup was great, Bjugs nearly ended it with his patented rush the outside and cut in move around the dman. Second unit Barkov-Petro ?? was more flat. Barkov broke his stick or lost it and went to the bench when the puck was at the blue-line and caused a 3-2 which they had an opens hot at McKenna and scored.

I think Jagr was on there as well

 

[Android 16]

We went all in on the offensive side, missed and Dallas went the other way and scored.

 

[Brokin]

Well I see they won, with Huby getting a couple. Good for him and I hope he keeps it going during the season. I would bet that quite a few of the regulars are still trying to skate into form. Everybody better be ready to go by the start of the season, as they need a quick start.

Sorry to see Rocco got hurt. Hopefully, it's not too serious and he can play soon.

 

[MintyFresh88]

We went all in on the offensive side, missed and Dallas went the other way and scored.

Not sure this is how I would describe it. We had some possession, then they had some possession. Ultimately the puck was outside our blueline, there was a battle for it, Barkov broke/lost his stick, left towards the bench and caused a 3 v 2 for them entering our zone.

 

[hockeydude1]

Panthers win!!

 

[batting1k]

Here's our recap from tonight's game w/ Gallant quotes

http://catsontheprowl.com/2015/09/22/recap-stars-panthers-92215/

 

[ProjectPanthers]

Any highlights from tonight's game?

 

[ProjectPanthers]

Loving what I'm hearing from everyone on here. Sounds like the Hubey-Barkov-Jagr picked up right where they left off last season. Nice to see Juggernaut get a goal too after some penalty troubles.

 

[GrumpyKelly]

Saw only the first half but based on that:

-If Pirri and Smith are Bjugs linemates they need to start playing together asap and develop chemistry... Bjugger looked lost
-Crouse was pretty invisible but probably just needs more time to adjust to get the hang of it, just his second game
-The whole lineup has noticeably more speed than last year
-Booth seems like a shoe in at the moment for the bottom 6. Drives posession way better than Upshall

But yeah, preseason game is preseason game. The young guys have jump but I can't imagine what a guy like Jagr with his 1600 regular season games thinks while playing these.

 

[CHGoalie27]

Rocco got hurt??? WTF happened???? I missed the game.

Happy to hear about Booth. I'm in the supreme minority that hopes he makes it.

 

[Android 16]

Rocco rolled his ankle. Not sure how bad it is..

 

[ucanthanzalthetruth]

McKenna is an AHL goalie, this is well known. Brought in to mentor Brittain and he loves Portland. Worst news is if Paaaanthers goooaaaalll is gone. Where is Murph?

 

[Android 16]

Lindy was giving us props after the game. He said our gap control was excellent and we didn't give them much room to operate. He also said we had two strong forward lines.

 

[Ghoste]

Besides our first line, others I thought looked good were Rocco, Matheson, Booth, Petro, and Weegar.

Howden looked okay at times but at this point in time, I'd go with the veteran Booth. Besides, I'm sure he'll get some type of crazy injury and we could just call Howden up anyway.

-ghoste

 

[AwesomePanthers]

Can anyone give men a score update with who scored and assists? Did Dallas score in OT?

 

[SoupyFIN]

McKenna definitely an AHL goalie. Barkov lost his stick and peaced to the bench, gave Stars a 3 v 2. Odd decision.

I have a feeling it broke.

There's really no point in staying on without a stick 3on3, it's man to man coverage and opposing players are going to skate circles around you if you don't have a stick.

 

[ucanthanzalthetruth]

Can anyone give men a score update with who scored and assists? Did Dallas score in OT?

1st Period
13:01 FLA Jonathan Huberdeau (1) Wrist shot - ASST: NONE 1 - 0 FLA
2nd Period
00:38 FLA Jonathan Huberdeau (2) Wrist shot - ASST: Jaromir Jagr (1), Aleksander Barkov (1) 2 - 0 FLA
3rd Period
10:09 FLA PPG - Nick Bjugstad (1) Wrist shot - ASST: Brian Campbell (1), Jaromir Jagr (2) 3 - 0 FLA
10:58 DAL Tyler Seguin (1) Wrist shot - ASST: John Klingberg (1) 3 - 1 FLA
18:44 DAL Jason Demers (1) Wrist shot - ASST: Jason Dickinson (1) 3 - 2 FLA


Dallas scored in OT, Grimaldi rolled his ankle. Only notable events.

 

[pb1300]

McKenna is an AHL goalie, this is well known. Brought in to mentor Brittain and he loves Portland. Worst news is if Paaaanthers goooaaaalll is gone. Where is Murph?

Its preseason, that stuff is usually saved for the regular season.

 

[FrolikFan67]

huberdeau had a great game. pestered the guy on the first one, i thought it was a clean strip but i think the guy accidentally handled it into his teammates skate, but huberdeau definitely helped. then had a very nice deke for the goal. the 2nd was very nice, far corner, perfect placement, with his shot not being strong he needs to be very accurate like that so hopefully we can expect more of that. his skating didnt look any better imo tho. its just his skating style is too weird, he makes really wide strides and his acceleration is really slow. still had a great game though.
that whole line was just incredible to watch. they just all know where each other are. its incredible. huberdeau brought it down the wing in the 3rd, put on the breaks, held onto it a little longer and barkov came outta no where and dished it off to him for a quick slap shot and barkov really leaned into it. really riffled the thing, love seeing barkov's shot.

crouse was pretty unnoticeable overall, i still expect him to get a few games in though.

bjugstad with a really nice pp goal, just wide open, walked in, walked in, and ripped it over the shoulder. very nice. he also looked more physical than he usually plays imo.

matheson really did look incredible. he whiffed on a slap shot when he had a pass coming straight towards him from the front, but one of the early pp he had 2 consecutive one-timers and they both had a lot of velocity on it. nice to have a d being able to set up in the pirri region just above the face-off circle and can riffle in one timers like that. his speed looked good, he didnt get pushed around, very good offensive instincts. so far I'm wanting him to play some games with kulikov and see if he sticks. i really think he can. its not like he isnt developed, he's played 3yrs of D1 hockey at one of the best if not the best college hockey program in the country. weegar looked solid too, got to play with campbell.

campbell looked very solid imo. its a contract year for him so i expect a good season from him. had a spinorama, and one stint in the offensive zone where he was just everywhere with the puck, looked very good overall imo.

mike mckenna kinda sucks lol the first goal was lousy, tried to catch a long snapshot and missed. the other one ill assume got tipped, looked bad initially. nothing he could do on the 3v3 tho, when barkov went to the bench after his stick broke it was just 2v3 and he just walked into the slot and walked some more closer and closer and just picked a corner. you could see it coming.

luongo looked good, 0 goals in 2 periods.

i know the competition wasnt all that great today but we really dominated them overall. grimaldi also looked good, think he just sprained it ankle, i doubt its anything major. gudbranson didnt look as bad as some are saying, but he wasnt that great or anything. just kinda there, had some nice hits. petrovic also had some solid hits as well. booth looked fast, overall not bad.

ps. for the people saying the pa announcer sucks, I'm pretty sure he's on the boards here, just fyi. i know who he is, i like him, he has the voice for it, but he is a tad on the monotone side, could speak with just a little more enthusiasm.

 

[ucanthanzalthetruth]

Its preseason, that stuff is usually saved for the regular season.

Murph is gone, I doubt it continues.

 

[PBPantherfan]

McKenna is an AHL goalie, this is well known. Brought in to mentor Brittain and he loves Portland. Worst news is if Paaaanthers goooaaaalll is gone. Where is Murph?

The new guy tried it on the first goal and let's just say it was bad.

Rocco got hurt on that holding call he went down with the Star's player and came up limping. He couldn't put much weight on (I think) his right ankle at first. I did see him come back after going up the tunnel for a while to test it out. He did a few laps around the Panthers end and looked better but was still being a little gimpy on it.

 

[austropanther]

huberdeau had a great game. pestered the guy on the first one, i thought it was a clean strip but i think the guy accidentally handled it into his teammates skate, but huberdeau definitely helped. then had a very nice deke for the goal. the 2nd was very nice, far corner, perfect placement, with his shot not being strong he needs to be very accurate like that so hopefully we can expect more of that. his skating didnt look any better imo tho. its just his skating style is too weird, he makes really wide strides and his acceleration is really slow. still had a great game though.

matheson really did look incredible. weegar looked solid too, got to play with campbell.

campbell looked very solid imo.

mike mckenna kinda sucks lol

grimaldi also looked good, think he just sprained it ankle, i doubt its anything major. gudbranson didnt look as bad as some are saying, but he wasnt that great or anything. just kinda there, had some nice hits. petrovic also had some solid hits as well. booth looked fast, overall not bad.

Thank you for this summary and evalution!

Huberdeau has definitely the needed accuracy with his shot to be successful from any position in between the face off dots. Not a hard shot, but way underrated accuracy-wise (he showed that with his last 5 goals last season...)

Furthermore I agree, he is only an average skater. The cool thing about the H-B-J line is though that he doesn't really have to be a better skater. Barkov skates for him in terms of D, but most importantly their perfect positioning and understanding of each other covers all skating deficiencies.

Great to hear that our D core was good and that the "new" guys Matheson and Weegar bring a lot to the table already. Our D can be our crown jewel for a long time. This makes our team so much better since it also pushes guys like Kuli, Gudbranson and Petro to keep improving and the "freshmen" might even surpass the "sophomores" at some point. Especially if they bring a physical side with them, Gudbranson and Petro really have to watch out and step it up (even if I still believe/hope Gudbranson will be our Willie Mitchell at some point)

And imo they should keep Booth. He has the experience, wheels and puck protection skills to really be strong on the 3rd or 4th line while chipping in some goals. He would definitely be an improvement of a Kopecky or Upshall. Howden and Brickley will get their chances throughout the season due to injuries.

Biggest worry: backup goalie. Montoya cannot have another season like last one and it seems that there is no real pressure from the guys below him.

 

[pb1300]

Murph is gone, I doubt it continues.

I cant see them getting rid of that. The "Panthers Goal" is our thing. Doubt its gone. People here really need to find out about this, and cause a stir if they did get rid of it. There is nothing better than hearing that "Panthers goal" when there is a packed house.

 

[SufferingCatFan]

At game, what a difference 4 years makes. There is now improved talent, size and speed up and down the line up with genuine competition. I am starting to believe that this team by mid-season will be genuinely hard to play against.

 

[ShootIt]

Murph is gone, I doubt it continues.

Was there an announcement on who won the PA job?