GDT: 1/19/13 "Raise The Banner" - Hurricanes VS Panthers

[Slick Cat]

Even the mighty Yankees had a problem filling the prime seats behind the plate and how they looked on TV when their new stadium opened. Gee are they just not a baseball town? Of course Yormark didnt learn anything from that. Thats why im so anti Club Red, another shameless Yormark money grab.

Agreed. Everything about club red, displacing original season ticket holders, getting a loan from the city to make money on our expense, clogging up the in and out of multiple sections with possible fire hazards, taking away much needed bathrooms, making our fan base look terrible around the league with so many empty seats (which could have been worse if families of players and staff weren't used to fill some of them), are all examples of how yormarks greedy money grab in club red does everything to ruin a good product that is finally on the ice. No one mentioned the parking fiasco caused on the north side because of hundreds of spots now reserved for club red, two thirds of which were empty. He keeps trying very hard to alienate the most loyal fans.

 

[Ekblad]

I honestly don't understand the point of giving people those seats if they're just going to hang out in the lounge and watch the game from a tv . Thanks Yorkman

big deal. really why do we care so much about what **** canadians think of our attendance?? we all know the size and quality of our fanbase, and isnt that all that matters? We know our fans are loyal, attend as many games as we can, show that we care by for example being on hfboards posting almost daily about the team and its ups and downs. The one thing I love about our fanbase is that we're not cocky or stuck-up like many canadian fanbases.
Instead of getting angry, be proud of the play of our team!

 

[harv33173]

theo was freaking amazing last night!!!!! he kept us in the game in the 2nd and 3rd. very pleasantly surprised with the 2nd line!!! hope they can keep this up all season. disappointed in the first line. very poor offensively and didn't think santorelli did himself any favors last night!!!! ward really helped us in the first as we were outplayed in the 2nd and 3rd.
KEEP THE WINS COMING GUYS!!!!!!!

 

[TheDamned]

You guys are lucky to have Kovalev.
Watch him play, he is a magician with the puck and can change the game by himself at any time.

 

[Android 16]

So proud of my Panthers!

What a great start. Huberdeau, Kovalev, Campbell and Theo were rockin' the house!!

 

[Haj]

I'm in town for a wedding or I would have gone to the game last night.

Just watched the condensed replay.

Huberdeau is something different. He has great vision, is a great passer, and has wonderful hockey sense. He also has a quick release on his shot, he surprised Ward a couple of times with it. Hubs doesn't need a lot of room to score goals.

Mueller played really well. Can't wait till Versteeg and Guds get back int he lineup.

Did Kulikov play last night ? How did he look ?

 

[Ghoste]

Agreed, Theo was great! Really would like to see us in the Top 10 powerplay & penalty kill. Great start last night. Defense should get a boost when Kuli replaces Caruso. We had a tough time with Ottawa last season so we'll see what happens this year.

-ghoste

 

[Erick*]

I'm in town for a wedding or I would have gone to the game last night.

Just watched the condensed replay.

Huberdeau is something different. He has great vision, is a great passer, and has wonderful hockey sense. He also has a quick release on his shot, he surprised Ward a couple of times with it. Hubs doesn't need a lot of room to score goals.

Mueller played really well. Can't wait till Versteeg and Guds get back int he lineup.

Did Kulikov play last night ? How did he look ?

Kulikov didn't play last night.

 

[Haj]

Also Cam Ward played poorly.

I can't remember the last time he played down at that level.

 

[Erick*]

Also Cam Ward played poorly.

I can't remember the last time he played down at that level.

I don't think it was Cam Ward's fault, really.

1st goal-Huberdeau in front of the net all alone.
2nd goal-Campbell scores on a terrible turnover.
3rd goal-Questionable. Great shot by Campbell, though.
4th goal-Great cross-ice pass by Huberdeau to Upshall. I credit Huberdeau's skill more than anything.

I thought the Kovalev goal was kinda weak, but Dan Ellis was in net for that one.

All in all, we showed a lot of skill last night, especially on the powerplay.

 

[Gizmo Tkachuk]

Let's credit the PK as well. I believe we went 6-6 in penalty kills last night.

 

[Dread Clawz]

It's possible that Huby staying in junior as long as he did and playing in the WJC again was the best thing for his development. I take that as a possible positive from the lockout. THat was an incredible NHL debut.

Aside from the names everyone's already talked about, props to Caruso for a solid NHL debut as well. He really surprised me by not making many mistakes. Ellerby played a terrific game as well, that's just what our defense needed last night. Kuba looked a bit out of sorts, but made some good plays as well. A big, rangy, slowish guy like him is going to need a couple games to get in full swing here. Upshall trying his best not to become a compliance buyout, very nice game from him, terrific snipe. Hopefully he can have a big rebound season.

Not every game is going to be that easy, but I'll take it. With 48 games, every win is huge.

 

[LUUUUUIS]

Someone mentioned it before, but the whole series of events that led to Upshall's goal is my favorite thing in last night's game. Just beautiful.
http://video.panthers.nhl.com/videocenter/console?hlg=20122013,2,8&event=FLA306&cmpid=embed-share-video

 

[Dread Clawz]

By the way, Brian Campbell is underrated.

I understand the knock on him not being a shutdown D-man, but his offense more than makes up for it/he's not even bad defensively.

Played about 26 minutes tonight like it's easy to do that fresh off a lockout.

Now that Garrison's gone, he steps up his game and improves his shot. You really learn to appreciate him more and more over time. Not many in the game like him.

Campbell is great defensively, since the 1st game of last season he has been. He's easily a top 15 d-man, I don't care what anyone says. When he went to Chicago everyone simply forgot about him.

 

[luby3131]

After watching last night, I believe we will get production from the Huberdeau-Mueller-Kovalev line all year (as long as they all can stay healthy). In junior, Huberdeau was at his best when he played with Zack Phillips and Tomas Jurco. Phillips (Coyotes prospect) is a right handed two-way center who can play on the wing as well as at center. Jurco (Detroit) is an uber skilled winger with some of the best hands you'll ever see.... does this sound familiar? With Mueller playing Phillips role and Kovalev filling the Jurco spot, its easy to say these three can stick together and continue to produce.

 

[Vilam]

big deal. really why do we care so much about what **** canadians think of our attendance?? we all know the size and quality of our fanbase, and isnt that all that matters? We know our fans are loyal, attend as many games as we can, show that we care by for example being on hfboards posting almost daily about the team and its ups and downs. The one thing I love about our fanbase is that we're not cocky or stuck-up like many canadian fanbases.
Instead of getting angry, be proud of the play of our team!

It has nothing to do with Canadians or anyone else for me... I just want our players to have a packed house of screaming fans to play in front of. Sure they're professionals and that sort of stuff shouldn't really matter, but it's just more fun and creates a better atmosphere. I want our guys to enjoy themselves, and I want other players to think of Florida as a great place to play. Having a ton of empty seats behind the bench doesn't exactly send that message.

 

[adam graves]

It has nothing to do with Canadians or anyone else for me... I just want our players to have a packed house of screaming fans to play in front of. Sure they're professionals and that sort of stuff shouldn't really matter, but it's just more fun and creates a better atmosphere. I want our guys to enjoy themselves, and I want other players to think of Florida as a great place to play. Having a ton of empty seats behind the bench doesn't exactly send that message.

Dude I go to a lot of Yankee games...same phenomenon there. They have the moat seats between the bags that are 3/4 empty between no sells, no shows, and at the trough.

Despite that, the place rocked last night. It won't every night, but keep the winning going and the culture and attendance changes down here. Heat used to curtain the uppers till they were winners, remember?

 

[Lundell4Prez]

After watching last night, I believe we will get production from the Huberdeau-Mueller-Kovalev line all year (as long as they all can stay healthy). In junior, Huberdeau was at his best when he played with Zack Phillips and Tomas Jurco. Phillips (Wild prospect) is a right handed two-way center who can play on the wing as well as at center. Jurco (Detroit) is an uber skilled winger with some of the best hands you'll ever see.... does this sound familiar? With Mueller playing Phillips role and Kovalev filling the Jurco spot, its easy to say these three can stick together and continue to produce.

Fixed

 

[IceManCat]

Dude I go to a lot of Yankee games...same phenomenon there. They have the moat seats between the bags that are 3/4 empty between no sells, no shows, and at the trough.

Despite that, the place rocked last night. It won't every night, but keep the winning going and the culture and attendance changes down here. Heat used to curtain the uppers till they were winners, remember?

Same with the Blackhawks and Penguins

 

[Dread Clawz]

After watching last night, I believe we will get production from the Huberdeau-Mueller-Kovalev line all year (as long as they all can stay healthy). In junior, Huberdeau was at his best when he played with Zack Phillips and Tomas Jurco. Phillips (Coyotes prospect) is a right handed two-way center who can play on the wing as well as at center. Jurco (Detroit) is an uber skilled winger with some of the best hands you'll ever see.... does this sound familiar? With Mueller playing Phillips role and Kovalev filling the Jurco spot, its easy to say these three can stick together and continue to produce.

Only thing is Mueller is not a two-way player. I think that line is going to get scored on a lot, so it may be a bit of a double-edged sword. No one is interested in playing defense. I think we may see Goc bump Kovalev off the 2nd line in a few weeks if that's the case. The thing with Kovy too is, like Neil Smith said on NHL Tonight, Kovalev is the most skilled player he's ever seen, but the thing with him is he also has one of the worst work ethics of all time too. He'll have games like last night, and he'll also have just as many games where he looks like he could care less about being out there. I'll take the win last night and Kovy's hand in that because it's not going to happen every night. Kovy's also going to need some nights off. I'm not saying that line won't produce, but I don't think they're going to consistently look like last night.

 

[Erick*]

Only thing is Mueller is not a two-way player. I think that line is going to get scored on a lot, so it may be a bit of a double-edged sword. No one is interested in playing defense. I think we may see Goc bump Kovalev off the 2nd line in a few weeks if that's the case. The thing with Kovy too is, like Neil Smith said on NHL Tonight, Kovalev is the most skilled player he's ever seen, but the thing with him is he also has one of the worst work ethics of all time too. He'll have games like last night, and he'll also have just as many games where he looks like he could care less about being out there. I'll take the win last night and Kovy's hand in that because it's not going to happen every night. Kovy's also going to need some nights off. I'm not saying that line won't produce, but I don't think they're going to consistently look like last night.

100% agree.

 

[Dread Clawz]

100% agree.

I agreed with your sentiments in the lineups thread as well.

 

[Howboutthempanthers]

Kuba will have to improve his game a LOT. Otherwise it's going to be more like this instead...

Agreed, Theo was great! Really would like to see us in the Top 10 powerplay & penalty kill. Great start last night. Defense should get a boost when Kuli replaces Kuba. We had a tough time with Ottawa last season so we'll see what happens this year.

-ghoste

Fixed.

 

[PBPantherfan]

**** Canadians? Real classy. You do realize many there are Panther fans from Canada who post in this forum, right? Myself included.

Maybe he thinks its just the ones that hate Florida having a team are inbred?

Horrible choice of words but it does get old constantly hearing from a large number of Canadian fans how awful of a fanbase we are and how the team should be moved to Quebec.

But back to the game one thing nice about Huberdeau he goes straight to the net. He did it multiple times last night hopefully he'll be there for all those rebounds where we all scream why was no one going to the net.

 

[PanthersHockey1]

After watching the goals scored last night I was even more impressed with huberdeau. On several of his goals it started with him getting out of his own zone or making a great pass in the neutral zone using the boards for puck maneuvering.

Huberdeau is a player the panthers have needed since pavel bure left. Someone who can create something out of nothing with his passing and his stick handling abilities. The sky's the limit.