Bonehead, Coach Ramsay, Coach Pauwelyn, feel they have gameplanned as well as they can and wait for the defensive coaches to appear from practice to add input to the gameplan. Coach McCabe says keeping the defense constant is a priority with him so players develop a rhythm and confidence. Coach Tyulin disagrees that its necessary, but still defers to Coach McCabe.
Coach Ramsay sets up the dry erase board and announces the changes in tonight's lineup 3rd Line RW Butler will sit to give LW/RW Joey Crabb a start in the NHL and Crabbs better defensive numbers will probably help. Additionally the 4rd line will get 10 mins per period and the additional 5 mins will go to the 4th line to help cover the top 6 forwards of the Capitals... Coach McCabe announces D Matt Gilroy will play tonight instead of D Robak to give Robak a rest and keep Gilroy's head in the game.
The first period begins and after the first three minutes, the coaches moves look like pure genius... but after one period is played were tied at two and the shot advantage is 13 - 6 Washington. Bonehead is unhappy with Gudbransons
stupid check to the back of Ovechkins head and the Panthers will start the second period with a major penalty and 4:58 to kill off the clock.
The Panthers start the second period successfully killing off the major and its the first line on the ice when the go ahead goal is scored by the Capitals. The Panthers PK players are gassed, and Bonehead and Coach Ramsay are trying to shuffle the lines to keep the oppositions top six from mismatching our lines and getting the PK rested. Fortunately only one more penalty is called and the Panthers escape the funhouse while Washington racks up 20 shots on goal in the period for a 33 - 18 total!
This team surprises Bonehead as even as they file in, they are talking about how lucky the Capitals are that the Panthers aren't scoring... Bonehead stresses the shot totals are going to catch up to the Panthers an they need to be more disciplined in their own zone with the puck.
The third period begins and Gudbranson is whistled again for boarding this time, and Bonehead glares down at Coach McCabe who nods back at him. Finally a break! the Capitals are called for tripping and the one goal lead can be neutralized by a PP goal... But a turnover by Capt Campbell sends a two on one SH attempt and C Eric Fehr buries it behind Markstrom for a two goal lead... An Absurd 4 seconds later the PP clicks and D Tom Gilbert cranks a slaphot that G Neuvirth never saw restores the one goal deficit and just as it seems the Panthers are getting untracked and generating some shots, D Gudbranson gets caught blatantly hooking a Capital player and back to the sin bin for his fourth trip... Fortunately the PK does its job again leaving the Capitals stumped with an 0 - 6 night on the PP. The score stays the same until the final buzzer and the shot totals are an embarrassing 48 - 23.
The Panthers doubled up Washington on takeaways (8-4) and halved the giveaways (7-14) compared to the opponents, probably salvaging the score tonight. The fourth line played exceptionally well and logged over 22 minutes each with Goc and Kopecky having over 7:00 of PK time alone! The first line (-2 +/-) were only on the ice for approx 9:00 mins and the first defensive pairing (-3+/-) was credited with a PP goal but made too many defensive mistakes tonight.
The post game press conference is short as Bonehead takes charge and admits faults and notes the positives (opposition's top six only accounted for 2 goals, 6 - 6 on PK results - again) Bone head promises a more complete analysis of the game and will hold a press conference tomorrow outlining some changes he's making to the team. The team charter is waiting at the airport and for once Bonehead thinks its taking forever to get all the equipment loaded and he tells the players to stop fooling around and be ready for the bus to leave or find their own way home...
