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Game Seventeen @ Ottawa Nov 9th
OTTAWA - The Panthers arrive in the Canadian capital having put the debacle at Boston behind them, or so they say to the press. Team Captain Brian Campbell called a players only meeting after the morning skate and Bonehead respected the Captain speaking out and did not interfere with the process. Coach Pauwelyn has the Senator's tendencies sheet ready for tonight, but Bonehead just tosses it on the desk and engages all the coaches in "Where do we go from here?" regarding the trade rejections. The overwhelming sentiment is to leave it alone and see how it plays out tonight before pushing panic buttons.
The pregame instructions are simple, Coach Ramsay has sat C Scott Gomez for C Drew Shore and then reset the lines to 15 mins each and Coach McCabe has done the same with the defense. Bonehead tells the team that playing time will be earned through performance and he is going to forget the Boston game ever happened... and it works!
Aside from shots surrendered and takeaways, Bonehead is pleased with the effort and his third line really stepped up and played strong. The post game conference is awkward when the brash young reporter covering the Panthers asks as his first question how does Bonehead feel tonight after the horrible Boston game? Bonehead gives it some thought for dramatic benefit and says "Boston, horrible?" which gets some scattered laughs.
The coaches and players are happy and as the team is boarding the buses back to the airport, he says to them "We're back on track, folks" to cheers and backslapping.
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