GDT: Florida Panthers @ Arizona Coyotes - 10/25/14 - 9PM EST

[GrumpyKelly]

Less penalties - more 5 on 5 - more scoring chances - more goals.

Oh and the PP really has to improve.

Plus we've had the lines that finally seem to have chemistry together for a whoppin two games. Now all the lines are generating chances. The scoring will get better, it's no way near as bad as it seems.

 

[Dread Clawz]

Pirri was great defensively yesterday. Excellent positioning.

Having watched him closely he really isn't a liability. He's impressing, and surely has to stay in the lineup when Bolland returns. 2 goals in 2 games. At this pace he will have over 70 goals!

I'm not saying he should be scratched. He has a place in this lineup as a scorer. I just don't think he'd make a good top 6 NHL center. But I think he'd make a good top 6 winger.

 

[Android 16]

Pirri also sucks defensively. He'd make a much better winger than Bjugstad IMO. Pirri doesn't really care about playing defense at all. All he thinks about is offense. I might be OK with moving Bjugstad to wing if we had a legitmate option to replace him as a #2 center. And no, that's not Trocheck or Shore.

Pirri saved a sure goal last night, lol. But he doesn't care about defense I see. Right..

 

[I am not exposed]

the BBB-cycling game is absolutely ridiculous

Um what. You mean keeping possession of the puck in the opponents zone, whilst creating chances. Thus leading to scoring chances and giving our defense a break. Why is that ridiculous? They didn't score any points yesterday, but the line had something like 5 points against Colorado.

 

[I am not exposed]

I'm not saying he should be scratched. He has a place in this lineup as a scorer. I just don't think he'd make a good top 6 NHL center. But I think he'd make a good top 6 winger.

I know, I was just giving more details and information in his game so far. And yes a top six winger is more likely, although he has been decent in the Face off circle. Although I haven't seen his stats.

 

[Boothinator]

I only saw half the 3rd and OT, but traditionally Pirri has not been good defensively. Gallant said that's why he held him out of the lineup the first few games. I'm glad to hear that though.

Aah ok I still dont think that was ever a good excuse for Gallant to keep him out ot the lineup. He sure hasnt been the only defensive liablity on the ice last season or when he played in Preseason

Yeah, he should stay on the team

 

[I am not exposed]

Plus we've had the lines that finally seem to have chemistry together for a whoppin two games. Now all the lines are generating chances. The scoring will get better, it's no way near as bad as it seems.

The over-reaction from some people is ridiculous.

We've come back with 6 points out of 8, and the chemistry of all lines looks good. Certainly better than the first couple of games.

 

[UtahPanther]

I think you have to take the poor offensive #'s with a grain of salt. While it would be silly to argue that we have the offensive capabilities of a Tampa or a Washington. I really don't think we are as pathetic as the numbers indicate.

I would ask how many legit power play opportunities have we had this year? How much energy is being used by guys we are counting to score while they are spending significant time each game killing penalties? (I am talking Flash, Jokinen, Upshall, and Bjugstad).

Guys are playing well for the most part. While we love to praise Pirri for the goals he has scored, we forget that Jokinen and Flash played a heavy part in creating those chances. Point being lines are forming chemistry. Goals will come when we start giving ourselves a chance and not put ourselves short handed.

It's 7 games in. I would be much more worried if we were 20 games in, we have corrected the penalty issue, and we still aren't scoring goals.

 

[RainingRats]

Pirri saved a sure goal last night, lol. But he doesn't care about defense I see. Right..

Pirri is fine defensively. I don't get the criticism either. We need goals more than we need another defensive stalwart so even if he was weak defensively, he should be in the lineup.

 

[CanadianPantherFan]

the BBB-cycling game is absolutely ridiculous

Do you mean good , then I agree.
Or you saying its a bad thing??

 

[Laus723]

He's apparently been talked to about his defensive play, so yes, he's looked pretty good lately. I love the kid, but there's nothing at all wrong with him working on his game a bit.

 

[gudzilla]

Do you mean good , then I agree.
Or you saying its a bad thing??

yesterday, every time BBB got down in the zone, they kept it away for around a minute or so, which is ridiculous

 

[Android 16]

I put the blame on 3 players who were a little off last night and need to be better.

1. Bjugstad. Put the puck in the net. Enough with the posts.
2. Gudbranson. Yet another puck over the glass penalty. How many times is he gonna repeat that this season? He has done it three times already. Where's the accountability?
3. Bergenheim/Barkov/Boyes. Did more damage to the penalty box than the scoreboard. They're no good to us in the box. Enough with the lazy stick penalties.

 

[FrolikFan67]

moving forward i think the LW-C combos should be:

Bergenheim-Barkov
Pirri-Bjugstad
Jokinen-Bolland

instead of having pirri as a center replacement, keep him permanently on the wing and use trocheck as the center replacement. but i think regardless if its the 1st or 2nd line, keep bergy with barkov. pirri would make a great winger for bjugstad, and jussi would be fine with bolland. then its about addressing the RW's. it'll be nice next season when upshall, flash, kopecky (even though he's playing well, just talking about the money), ellis, and the last year of kuba's buyout all come off the books.

 

[TheImpatientPanther]

moving forward i think the LW-C combos should be:

Bergenheim-Barkov
Pirri-Bjugstad
Jokinen-Bolland

instead of having pirri as a center replacement, keep him permanently on the wing and use trocheck as the center replacement. but i think regardless if its the 1st or 2nd line, keep bergy with barkov. pirri would make a great winger for bjugstad, and jussi would be fine with bolland. then its about addressing the RW's. it'll be nice next season when upshall, flash, kopecky (even though he's playing well, just talking about the money), ellis, and the last year of kuba's buyout all come off the books.

Trocheck should become a RW, where does he fit into a center role in your opinion?

He's not beating out Barkov or Bjugstad and he's not beating out Bolland or Mack. Trocheck and Shore will have to be shifted to wings if the plan is keeping them here for the next couple years. They're in a tough spot because their roles are filled for years to come. I really hope Vinny can become a top 6 winger in the near future.

 

[FrolikFan67]

when i say center replacement i mean as a center call-up for when any one of barkov-bjugstad-bolland get injured (mostly bolland lol). he won't beat out any one of those 3 centers. i wouldnt mind him being a rw, but grimaldi is already being moved to rw, and I'm hoping we can get a rw or 2, not including grimaldi, so keeping trocheck for depth purposes down the middle isnt a bad idea considering bolland's health track record and the fact he won't garner much in a trade anyways.

 

[floridada]

Um what. You mean keeping possession of the puck in the opponents zone, whilst creating chances. Thus leading to scoring chances and giving our defense a break. Why is that ridiculous? They didn't score any points yesterday, but the line had something like 5 points against Colorado.

He meant that in a good way, you old fart.

 

[Howboutthempanthers]

Yes, we obviously need more scoring, but penalties are just as big of a problem. Stupid penalties are a much easier problem to fix. That's cost us at least 2-3 pts. already. We are at the top of the league in PIMs as well as the bottom of the league in scoring.

Barkov has been playing a lot better. It's only a matter of time before it translates into points for him. Some of you guys are out of your damn minds. Some other guys who didn't come in and light the league on fire right away....Tavares, Kessel, Van Riemsdyk, Seguin, Kopitar.

Yeah, Barkov played his best game last night IMO. It didn't show up on the score sheet but he looked real good to me. First and foremost lead by his defense.

And speaking of defense, Bjugstad has looked really good on d as well. When he uses his long stick when closing in on the defensemen on the forecheck, you can see them get flustered a little, they feel a little cornered. The Arizona defense didn't turn it over because they are really good (OEL/Yandle). But I believe he is going create a lot of turnovers with his forecheck. Barkov and Bjugstad could become like Bergeron and Krejci, except bigger. Hint hint, it would be a crime to move Bjugstad wing. Screw that.

 

[PanthersHockey1]

As of today, we have the lowest scoring lineup in the NHL, including the teams tanking for McDavid. Freaking pathetic. Also, it's incredible that we have 7 points in 7 games when we score less than the class nerd in high school.

This is a testament to how good of a team 5 on 5, defensively, goaltending we are. A lot more positives than last year without a doubt.

 

[PanthersHockey1]

Just for the sake of noting, Jacob Markstrom has given up 1 goal in 4 starts in the AHL, and has 3 straight shutouts. Definitely not regretting the trade, just thought it was worth bringing up.

The only thing markstrom has proven in his career is that he is a great AHL goaltender, nothing more.

 

[RainingRats]

This is a testament to how good of a team 5 on 5, defensively, goaltending we are. A lot more positives than last year without a doubt.

Seriously. I see more positives than negatives at this point with our team. Penalties are killing us and that's something we can fix.

 

[jrockett1096]

Tallon complaining about all the penalties.. Hmm, ok. Hey Dale, what about the uh lack of scoring? How about you get off your complaining-a and get this team a couple complementary scorers?

I swear this is ****ing pathetic.

Btw, one of the few guys with zero PIM's? Guess who.. Brian Campbell. The guy everyone wants traded, lol.

What really sticks out to me looking at those stats is Barkov with that one gimme goal on that pass from Ekblad in only 9 shots in 7 games. 9 freaking shots. Pirri has 10 in 3 games and Barkov only has 2 more shots than Thornton in 2 more games than he's played! That is just not good enough for our number 1 center and supposed best player on the team. Barkov should come to the rink every night thinking about getting 5 shots a game. I mean shoot from anywhere. He is hurting the team getting good ice time and just trying to set up a checking winger and a Brad Boyes who nobody wanted before last year. Barkov HAS to be the go to guy on that line and be much much more aggressive. He is playing just way to passive offensively with all of his gifts he possesses. Defensively he is great but he was not drafted 2nd overall to be a great shut down checking center. Barkov has to step it up.

 

[Egblad]

What really sticks out to me looking at those stats is Barkov with that one gimme goal on that pass from Ekblad in only 9 shots in 7 games. 9 freaking shots. Pirri has 10 in 3 games and Barkov only has 2 more shots than Thornton in 2 more games than he's played! That is just not good enough for our number 1 center and supposed best player on the team. Barkov should come to the rink every night thinking about getting 5 shots a game. I mean shoot from anywhere. He is hurting the team getting good ice time and just trying to set up a checking winger and a Brad Boyes who nobody wanted before last year. Barkov HAS to be the go to guy on that line and be much much more aggressive. He is playing just way to passive offensively with all of his gifts he possesses. Defensively he is great but he was not drafted 2nd overall to be a great shut down checking center. Barkov has to step it up.

I agree completely that Barkov needs to shoot more. It's a mentality though, one he doesn't quite have. He's always been a pass first guy and likely always will be. He needs to realize he is the best offensive player on this team though. I agree. As much as we say the onus is on our vets to perform, the onus is also on Barkov. Without him firing on all cylinders, this is all hopeless.

 

[Android 16]

What really sticks out to me looking at those stats is Barkov with that one gimme goal on that pass from Ekblad in only 9 shots in 7 games. 9 freaking shots. Pirri has 10 in 3 games and Barkov only has 2 more shots than Thornton in 2 more games than he's played! That is just not good enough for our number 1 center and supposed best player on the team. Barkov should come to the rink every night thinking about getting 5 shots a game. I mean shoot from anywhere. He is hurting the team getting good ice time and just trying to set up a checking winger and a Brad Boyes who nobody wanted before last year. Barkov HAS to be the go to guy on that line and be much much more aggressive. He is playing just way to passive offensively with all of his gifts he possesses. Defensively he is great but he was not drafted 2nd overall to be a great shut down checking center. Barkov has to step it up.

That's why I posted in the Pirri thread about how I appreciate his selfishness on the ice. Love it. I hope he keeps it up. He's got a nice NHL shot and being selfish in the O zone is paying dividends for him and the Panthers. Him and Luongo were big reasons why we earned a point Saturday night. Pirri scored, without his goal, we wouldn't have had a shot at the 2 points.

 

[jrockett1096]

I agree completely that Barkov needs to shoot more. It's a mentality though, one he doesn't quite have. He's always been a pass first guy and likely always will be. He needs to realize he is the best offensive player on this team though. I agree. As much as we say the onus is on our vets to perform, the onus is also on Barkov. Without him firing on all cylinders, this is all hopeless.

He needs to have his mentality changed then. He has Sean Bergenheim and Brad Boyes beside him. These are not all-stars he is setting up to score here. There is only so much these 2 can finish with there limited abilities. Especially Bergenheim. Barkov has to get his head right and maybe Gallant needs to be in his ear and make him understand his responsibility here to be agressive and be the best player on the team and take shots if he has any daylight to take them.