Cats Go For Three in A Row Against Rangers!

VS

Tonight the Florida Panthers go for three in a row against the New York Rangers in the Big Apple.  The Panthers are coming off their first victory against the Detroit Red Wings since December 1996, as captain Bryan McCabe scored the game winner shortly after overtime started.

My Molson Canadien player of the game is Scott Clemmensen.  Without him, last night could have been a disaster especially in the first when the Panthers were outshot 11-2.

News for the Panthers is that forward Cory Stillman sustained a left knee injury in last nights game and is going to be out of action for awhile according to head coach Peter DeBoer.  More news as we can get it.  In Stillman’s abscence the Panthers have called up forwards Shawn Matthias and Michal Repik from Rochester of the AHL.

There must be another forward that is suffering from injury since both players have been called up.  Once again you will not see The Stripper at forward as that experiment is over.  However he remains a healthy scratch.

The Panthers currently sit at 13th in the conference and the Rangers are at 9th.  The Rangers started out as one of the hottest teams in the league but have cooled off quite a bit and have lost 4 of their last 6 games at The Garden.  Watch out for Marian Gaborik who has 15 goals already this season and Vinny Prospal who has enjoyed a bit of a rejuvination playing for John Tortorella as Prospal leads the Rangers with 16 assists.

Look for the goaltending matchup to be Vokoun for the Panthers and Lundqvist for the Rangers.

A win for the Panthers here would be huge.  Let’s not use the Stillman injury as an excuse.  Someone please step up and contribute in his spot.  Also a back to back game is something that has always troubled Florida, but the bit OT win in Detoilet (that’s not a misprint) can hopefully supply some momentum.

Here’s one of my favorite photos of a Panther- Ranger contest:

He must have slipped?! Or maybe Girardi just “blew” at him.

Thanks for reading.

Cheers