Florida Panthers Drop Both Sets of Preseason Opener to Predators
After an incredibly long off-season, the Florida Panthers returned to the ice on Monday, playing two games versus the Nashville Predators.
Both the Florida Panthers and Nashville Predators dressed two completely separate teams for their 4:30 and 8:00 P.M. Eastern puck drops, with neither team featuring their true key players.
For Florida’s perspective, none of the top six forwards from last season, Aaron Ekblad, Keith Yandle, Anton Stralman, or Sergei Bobrovsky played in this two-game set. This gave a lot of opportunity for some of the young prospects and PTOs to get their first big chances against opposition that isn’t their teammates.
There were still plenty of new faces that made their first appearances for Florida, with 18 debutants seeing the ice for Joel Quenneville, who debuted his first two games as Cats coach. Some debutants were top prospects, like Aleksi Heponiemi and Serron Noel, while others arrived as new free agents, like Brett Connolly and Noel Acciari.
In the first game, the Panthers started well, with Brett Connolly getting his first goal and assist inside the first period as the Cats led 2-0 after one. Jayce Hawryluk scored quickly after Nick Bonino‘s goal to make the score 3-1 in the second period.
At 3-2, the Panthers and Predators swapped goalies, with Chris Driedger coming out in favor of Phillippe Desrosiers for Florida, while Troy Grosenick made way for Connor Ingram in the Nashville net. This is where the momentum changed, as Ingram stepped up to the plate for the Preds, while Desrosiers self-destructed for the Panthers.
The Predators scored five unanswered to take the first game 6-3 as their first line of Nick Bonino, Austin Watson, and Rem Pitlick combined for four goals. The Panthers had their stints to get back into it but failed to do so as the better team won the first game.
In the second game, the Florida Panthers really improved on defense but failed to convert on their chances, falling 1-0. The lone goal came early in the game, as Miikka Salomaki’s shot was redirected in by Laurent Dauphin (who really impressed me).
The goal initially wasn’t called by the refs, went to review, which wound up canceling out Florida’s best chance, and being overturned to give the Preds’ their goal. Florida failed to really get too much going on offense, with only one or two big chances.
While the results of these two games mean little, the performances of the players are of the utmost importance. Without any further ado, here is how every Florida Panther played in games 1 and 2:
Game 1: Panthers 3-6 Predators
While Florida got off to the much better start, they faltered after the halfway point in the game, as Nashville scored five unanswered to take game one. Breaking it down line-by-line, pairing-by-pairing, here is how each and every Panther played in game one.
The first line for Florida, consisting of Joel Lowry, Denis Malgin, and Brett Connolly featured Florida’s best player by far. Connolly’s first goal as a Panther came 6:20 into the first period, without a whole ton of help from his forwards.
Defenseman Tommy Cross took the shot, and Connolly did very well to redirect it into a perfect spot to make it 1-0. Connolly also set up the next goal, to Colton Sceviour.
Sceviour’s line was one that I was really looking forward to watching, but really let down in the first game. Sceviour’s goal came with him coming off the bench, not interacting with any of his linemates before putting a wrist shot through the five-hole of the goalie to make it 2-0.
Rodrigo Abols, in his debut, did well to position himself throughout the game, but never really was able to create separation and didn’t get a whole ton of service. Owen Tippett, who had some lofty expectations in camp, really failed to make an impact today, but there’s plenty of time for him to develop. I was really anticipating a big game from one of the two, but both fell short.
The third line also combined for a goal, but only one of the forwards really impressed me. Jayce Hawryluk got the goal and looked the best of the three forwards, but to be fair, he does have the most NHL experience. Hawryluk’s goal came on a well-positioned wrist shot from out in front, a powerful shot as well, to beat Grosenick.
The assist on that goal went to Blaine Byron, who had flashes of impressive play, but really failed to make a consistent impact on the game. The line’s center, Cliff Pu, really struggled to impress throughout the game, taking a penalty and struggling on offense. Pu played well on special teams but really didn’t make much of an impact at even strength.
The fourth line seriously struggled throughout the game. Patrik Bajkov had a decent start, but got into penalty trouble as the game went on and wound up hurting the Panthers rather than helping. The other two forwards, Adam Rockwood and Sebastian Repo, both failed to help the Panthers’ cause. Rockwood was a -3, and Repo took a penalty and was a -2.
On the defensive side of things, there were a lot of key mistakes from new faces. Other than the top pairing, there was plenty of blunders to go around.
That top pairing, Mark Pysyk and Jake Massie, actually really impressed me throughout the afternoon. I felt both put in mature performances, not making any mistakes, not trying to do anything too challenging, just keeping their minds in defensive positioning. There’s a saying that the less you hear from a defenseman, the better, and that applied to those two.
For the other two pairings, a lot of defensive mistakes. Recently I was surprised to see Riley Stillman training with Aaron Ekblad in camp scrimmages, which set the bar high for him, but he failed to really perform. He struggled to keep up with the Preds’ speed, gave up a few goals, and laid out a huge frustration hit late in the third period, which got him into a fight. Ethan Prow, his partner, looked fine, but he couldn’t bail his partner out enough.
On the third pairing, while Tommy Cross looked great in the beginning in the attacking end, his defense fell to shreds late in the game. He was caught out twice, especially on Pitlick’s goal, in which he overcommitted to the puck, allowing Nashville to break in on a 2-on-1. Alongside him, Brady Keeper was slightly better, but still showed plenty of rust.
For the goalies, Chris Driedger really impressed me between the pipes. He didn’t make too many “impressive” saves, but he did his job and kept out 15 of the 17 shots he faced. Desrosiers really came in at a bad time, and his defense didn’t help matters. One of the goals wasn’t his fault, but the other two he conceded he could have done better.
Game 2: Panthers 0-1 Predators
While the scoreline seems tight, this one was one-way traffic throughout the game. Nashville felt like the much better team throughout the entire game, with the Florida attack seemed off-beat for most of it.
This was a much better overall team performance from the Cats, committing less quick breaks turnovers and allowing less quick breaks from Nashville. The issue here was clear, the Panthers couldn’t solve Juuse Saros.
So, let’s get through the forward lines that all had nights to forget. The first line, one that had me most excited with Aleksi Heponiemi and Henrik Borgstrom playing with the speedy Anthony Greco seemed like an ideal line for a goal or two.
Heponiemi looked lost on the wing, Greco got into penalty trouble, and Borgstrom couldn’t distribute the puck properly. Not to mention, they got a lot of time on the power play, and like the rest of the players, did nothing with it. All in all, really big letdown from these three, especially from Heponiemi and Greco, who are both trying to make the roster this season.
The second line, something that looked more like a fourth line on a really capped out team, saw Dryden Hunt playing with Troy Brouwer on the flank, and Noel Acciari in the center. This wasn’t a line that inspired too much confidence going forwards, but I give them credit for their defensive work.
Acciari looked really inspired to be playing for the Panthers, easily the best of the three. Hunt played fine, setting up Acciari for a few chances, but not doing anything too wrong either. Brouwer definitely had some rust to shake off, but got better as the game went on. Overall, very mediocre showing from the three, I’m not against how any of them played.
The third line was okay, but not consistent. Kevin Roy was one of the better forwards for Florida against the Preds, creating the best chance, hitting the post on a 3-on-1. While I usually complain about players shooting on a 3-on-1, he did everything right, and was very unlucky not to score past Saros, hitting the post and bouncing out.
For the other two on the line, Dominic Toninato and Paul Thompson, very uninspiring. Thompson had a good season in the AHL last year, but brought nothing to the table for Florida. Toninato is still very much getting settled, but can’t have many more games like that if he wants to keep his place.
The fourth line had flashes, but zero consistency whatsoever. Serron Noel and Jonathan Ang, two young prospects playing right-wing and center respectively, looked good together, creating the second-best chance of the game through Ang’s breakaway chance, but nothing led from it. Their linemate, Jake Horton, was incredibly quiet throughout the game, but it was his first game with the Panthers. They showed talent, and could get better if they keep practicing together.
Defensively, there isn’t a lot of complaints I can have. The one goal came on a redirection, and wasn’t a particular fault on any of the back six.
The top pairing of Mike Matheson and Josh Brown, the only pairing through either game with two players who played at the NHL level last season, were the best by far. Matheson was probably the Panthers’ best skater all game, not looking too nervous with the puck, and only giving the puck away once in 17:50. Josh Brown was really good, playing 23:54, and looking much calmer than Matheson throughout the game.
The second pairing, William Lochead and MacKenzie Weegar certainly had their flaws, but matured as the game went on. In the early stages of the game, Weegar made a huge block on Nashville’s Craig Smith after a miscommunication with Montembeault and one of his teammates. Lochead didn’t necessarily impress, but he didn’t do anything to disappoint.
The bottom pairing of Ian McCoshen and Thomas Schemitsch was the worst pairing, but still weren’t terrible throughout. McCoshen tried to do a little too much with the puck as the game got closer to its finish, but did enough in the first two periods to justify for it. Schemitsch, on the other hand, didn’t impress me at all, but has plenty of time to turn it around.
In net, both goalies did what they had to do. Sam Montembeault, other than one miscommunication, looked very comfortable, keeping Eeli Tolvanen and Craig Smith at bay throughout his 31:26 in net. He saved 18 Nashville shots, and made it look easy throughout the night. He was beaten on a re-direction which he couldn’t have done much about, very good performance from him.
While Ryan Bednard looked the much more immature goalie, he still kept out all of his chances. Like his pads, his saves were bright and flashy, though some of them he made a bit of a meal out of, but for a 7th round pick in 2015, a very promising game going forwards.
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While neither game inspired much confidence, a lot of these guys were playing in their first NHL games. Noel Acciari said it best in his post-game interview, “Everyone’s still getting used to each other. Lines are going to change… these were the 1st and 2nd preseason games, the 1st for a lot of guys. It’s just kind of getting the nerves out and getting back into that game-mentality.” I couldn’t have said it much better myself. The Cats’ next pre-season game is Wednesday night at 7:00 in Montreal against the Habs.