GDT: 2/28/13 "Take A Slice" - Sabres VS Panthers

[Panthers Rock]

Tonight Your Defending Southeast Division Champion Florida Panthers take on the Buffalo Sabres! Game time at 7:30 EST live from BB&T Center!

Slice It


TV: Live on FSFlorida and Center Ice/Gamecenter.
Internet/Radio: Listen Live on NHL Gamecenter​

VS


​

[fieldset=Standings]

Florida:

Conference Position| Wins | Losses | OTL/SOL | Total Points
13th|6|9 |4 |16

Buffalo:

Conference Position| Wins | Losses | OTL/SOL | Total Points
15th|7|12|1|15

[/fieldset]

[fieldset=Injuries]

Buffalo:

Player | Date Of Incident | Status |Injury
Ville Leino |2013-01-18 |on injured reserve |strained right hip
Jordan Leopold| 2013-02-18 |out indefinitely |upper body
Alexander Sulzer| 2013-02-24| on injured reserve| lower body

Florida:​

Player | Date Of Incident | Status |Injury
Michael Caruso| 2013-01-23 |on injured reserve and is out indefinitely |broken wrist
Sean Bergenheim |2013-01-17 |undisclosed |undisclosed
Ed Jovanovski|2013-01-31|on injured reserve|knee
Scottie Upshall| 2013-02-01| questionable for Thursday's game against Buffalo| ankle
Kris Versteeg| 2013-02-15| questionable for Thursday's game against Buffalo| upper body
Filip Kuba|2013-02-24|day to day|upper body
Stephen Weiss|2013-02-26|expected to play|missed last game for personal reasons

[/fieldset]

[fieldset=Line Combinations (Subject To Change)]

Buffalo:

LW |C| RW
Thomas Vanek|Cody Hodgson|Jason Pominville
Steve Ott|Tyler Ennis|Nathan Gerbe
Jochen Hecht|Kevin Porter|Drew Stafford
Marcus Foligno|Mikhail Grigorenko|Patrick Kaleta

LD|RD
Robyn Regehr|Tyler Myers
Andrej Sekera|Christian Ehrhoff
Adam Pardy|Mike Weber

Florida:

LW| C |RW
Tomas Kopecky|Stephen Weiss|Tomas Fleischmann
Jonathan Huberdeau|Drew Shore|Peter Mueller
Scottie Upshall|Marcel Goc|Shawn Matthias
Jack Skille|Jerred Smithson|George Parros

LD|RD
Brian Campbell|Mike Weaver
Dmitry Kulikov|Erik Gudbranson
Colby Robak|Tyson Strachan

[/fieldset]

[fieldset=Expected Starting Goaltenders (Subject To Change)]

Buffalo:

Ryan Miller

GP | W | L | OTL | GAA | SV% | SO
18|7|10|1|2.83| .916|0

VS.

Florida:

Scott Clemmensen

GP | W | L | OTL | GAA | SV% | SO
7|2|1|2| 3.62 | .876|0

[/fieldset]

[fieldset=Team Leaders]

Buffalo:

W| Ryan Miller| 7
L |Ryan Miller |10
GAA |Ryan Miller |2.83
G |Thomas Vanek |12
A |Thomas Vanek |15
+/- |Christian Ehrhoff| 3
PIM |Steve Ott |38

Florida:

W| Jose Theodore| 4
L |Jose Theodore |6
GAA |Jose Theodore |3.52
G| Tomas Kopecky| 8
A |Tomas Fleischmann |9
+/-| Drew Shore| 4
PIM |Tomas Kopecky| 24

[/fieldset]

[fieldset=Special Teams]

Buffalo:

PP%|PP Rank|PK%|PK Rank
11.1%|29th(tied)|80.7%|18th

Florida:

PP%|PP Rank|PK%|PK Rank
20.0%|10th|73.5%|29th

[/fieldset]

[fieldset=News And Notes]

"We're a desperate team and we needed it," former Sabres defenseman Brian Campbell told the Panthers' official website. "We can fold up and not compete but there's a lot of fight in this team. We have a ways to go but we're working on getting better."
http://sports.yahoo.com/nhl/teams/fla

George Richards' Blog of the Miami Herald:Your Source For Reliable, Early Panthers Info!​

[/fieldset]

[fieldset=Primary Target]

Cody Hodgson, part of the big trade with Vancouver last year, has made a strong impact for the Sabres in his first full season. He's second in scoring only to the dynamic Thomas Vanek. Unfortunately it hasn't been enough to help pull the Sabres out of the Eastern Conference basement yet but few are blaming him.​

[/fieldset]

[fieldset=Red Hot Cat Of The Night]

Tomas Kopecky, who scored a hat trick last game, has 6 points in his last 4 games, tied for the team lead in goals with 8.​

[/fieldset]

Last Game VS. Sabres


Last Game Played


Tonight...

LET'S GO PANTHERS!!!!!!!!!!

​

Click to read more...

 

[Benched]

Cool GDT. Hopefully Clem and Kopecky can stay hot and we can win *gasp* more than one game in a row against a pretty beatable team.

 

[TheEkbombIsReal]

Boys better bring it tonight. Great game last time (Except Theos meltdown), entertaining and we came out with a win.

Hopefully Kopeckys hotstreak continues.

 

[Panthers607]

Clemmer with the shootout, no doubt in my mind.

 

[Killerinstinct]

Because our division sucks we still have chance to win it. GO PANTHERS!!!

 

[floridada]

I'll be going to the game tonight with some Sabre fans. Please make them do the walk of shame tonight, Panthers

 

[PanthersHockey1]

Ill be there start of spring break better dont ruin it Panthers!

 

[dbhislife]

Ill be there start of spring break better dont ruin it Panthers!

As a former Gator myself, please enjoy these years bud. Having moved to DC since graduation last May, you start to envy spring breaks in Florida. Mine is a week after UF's (which I know because my gf is still there), and ITS STILL FREAKING SNOWING OCCASIONALLY HERE. You mention beaches on spring break, and people look at you funny...

Ok rant over. GO CATS GO!!!!! I expect Hubs to give us one of his potent offensive showings tonight. 4-2 Cats Kopecky with a goal and Hubs with 3 peoples (a goal from each player on the line).

 

[Android 16]

Only one sure-fire bet..

Vanek gets at least a point or two.

 

[MillarWithASave]

I say we lose tonight, don't have high hopes for this one, but then again I don't have high hopes for any game really.

Great GDT PR.

 

[RainingRats]

We play Buffalo, Carolina, Carolina, Winnipeg, Washington, Winnipeg, Montreal, and then Tampa in the next couple of weeks. This is definitely our last chance at salvaging this season by dominating the division.

The entire month of March is a pretty much all teams we need to jump or need to jump us to make it into the playoffs.

 

[RainingRats]

Only one sure-fire bet..

Vanek gets at least a point or two.

Vanek with a 5 point night, Panthers win 6-5.

 

[Haj]

Relentless: The Tomas Kopecky Story



TNT Knows Drama.

 

[Android 16]

Unleash the Tomas Ko-PEST-cky

 

[Boothinator]

Clemmensen with a great game in goal ! I believe!


Goldie:

Looks like Clemmensen starts, Kovalev, Versteeg scratched.

Also, Kuba + Weiss expected to play...Robak has to take a seat

 

[Laus723]

Relentless: The Tomas Kopecky Story



TNT Knows Drama.

Lmao, nice!

 

[Madhatter73]

Unleash the Tomas Ko-PEST-cky

My friends and I have been calling him SoPesky since last year...

 

[k2737]

One of the 2 nights a year I wont be walking into BBT with a Panthers jersey on. Hopefully the Sabres put on a better performance then last time.



Good luck cats fans!

 

[Panteras]

Tomas JoePesci with another hat trick tonight I hope

 

[FlaPnthrsPunk]

There is absolutely no reason to lose this game after the big win on Tuesday night. Now is our time to get back in the race with a comparative easy schedule over the next week or so.

I agree completely with starting Clemmensen as he's played well in his last two appearances. I understand why Kuba is playing over Robak as he's the veteran that Dineen is hoping gets back on track, but Robak has played so well that I don't want him sitting.

Here's hoping for a great game! Lets Go Panthers!!!

 

[Drugs Delaney]

Is Steeger planning on playing any hockey this season? His point production could help.

 

[CatscratchFever]

Let's go Panthers!

 

[CoolburnIsGone]

For whatever reason, Buffalo always plays us tough too, no matter how they are playing. I expect another close game against them.

 

[Howboutthempanthers]

Just win baby.

 

[Laus723]

For whatever reason, Buffalo always plays us tough too, no matter how they are playing. I expect another close game against them.

Agreed. Guess we'll see another Parros-Scott bout, too