The Panthers Response Vs Dallas

 BY SCOTT MORGANROTH

The Florida Panthers just concluded a 3-1 road trip with stops in Tampa Bay, Carolina and Detroit.

After hammering the Red Wings 7-2 Friday Night at the Little Caesar’s Arena, the Panthers ran into a hot goaltender on Saturday in a 2-1 defeat as Jonathan Bernier stopped 38 shots.

After the game, Coach Joel Quenneville said, “Tough points to leave out there, you get an equalizer, you never know. We had a little push out there at the end, but not good enough.”

We’ve seen this drill plenty of times as the Panthers were unable to sweep an opponent which is unlikely to make the playoffs. 

The teams I’m referring to are the Red Wings and the Nashville Predators.

On Monday Night, Florida began a three-game series at the BB&T Center vs the Dallas Stars. 

Florida was supposed to open the season against the Stars on January 14-15, but the games were postponed.

Going into Monday Night’s game, the Panthers own a 5-2-1 record on home ice and have won two of their last three home games.

The Stars are the defending Western Conference Champions and lost to the Tampa Bay Lightning in the Stanley Cup Finals.

Dallas hasn’t played since February13th, a 4-3 shootout loss to the Carolina Hurricanes. 

But this time, COVID-19 wasn’t the culprit. 

Instead, the nine day layoff is because of snow that belted Texas.

How would the Panthers respond against the Dallas Stars?

The teams played an even first period as Florida outshot Dallas 11-10, but the Stars led 1-0 with a goal from Blake Comeau just 4:29 into the contest.

The second period was a totally different story.

I’ve never seen such dominance by one team in a period during my many years of covering Hockey.

The Panthers clearly took over the momentum as Dallas was out shot 29-4. 

Florida’s 29 shots on goal in the frame eclipsed the previous franchise record of 28 in the second period against Washington on October 20, 2005, a 3-2 win.

Goaltender Anton Khudobin was stellar but the Panthers scored two goals and took a 2-1 lead into the intermission. The Panthers go ahead tally came from Keith Yandle as he fired the puck past Khudobin from the point at the 1:42 mark. It was an unassisted goal.

One of the spark plugs during the period was Patric Hornqvist got into a fight with John Klingberg and pummeled him. Hornqvist recorded a game-high seven shots on goal. 

The Panthers and Dallas played an even third period. Florida out shot the Panthers 12-11 and added an empty net goal by Aleksander Barkov to win 3-1. 

Florida out shot Dallas 52-25. The 52 shots are tied for fifth most in a game in franchise history. The most they registered is 53 on January 15, 2019 at Montreal. 

Monday Night’s game was the 13th time in franchise history that the Panthers recorded 50 or more shots in a game. Florida’s 52 shots are the most by an NHL team this season.

The Panthers improved their record to 12-3-2 and climbed back into first place in the Central Division. More importantly, the Panthers are 5-0 after a loss. 

The Stars dropped to 5-4-4.

But the big story of the night was the dominating second period.

Here is what the Panthers were saying when it was over.

Coach Quenneville summed up the evening and said, “The guys are coming to play each and every night, doing what we have to do. Playing right has been very noticeable...If you play hard and you play with purpose, you give your chance shift in, shift out. It was fun to watch, guys really had a lot of energy, had great speed.”

Defenseman MacKenzie Weegar talked about the second period.

“We found our legs in the second. I think we just coming at them. Give credit to the goaltender over there. He made some big saves for them and kept them in the game. I thought we really took it to them in the second.

Panthers goaltender Chris Driedger stopped 24 of 25 Dallas shots and has registered a win in his past four starts. He owns a 7-1-1 record through nine appearances this season.

Driedger offered an interesting perspective of the second period.

“It was a pleasure to watch. The guys went to work in the second. I haven’t seen a period that dominant in a long time. The guys did a great job. For me, I’m just trying to stay in it. Dobby (Dallas goaltender) was kind of standing on his head over there.”

That was putting it lightly.

Barkov has an enormous amount of respect for Anton Khudobin after the second period barrage.

“He was great last year in the playoffs. He was in a big role for Dallas to get them to the (Stanley Cup) Final. He’s doing that this season, too. He’s a great goalie.”

The loss dropped Khudobin’s record to 3-4-1. But what an effort!

The Panthers victory over Dallas improved their All-Time mark against them to 18-17-3-1.

These two squads face off Wednesday at 5 ET and again Thursday at 7 ET to conclude their three game series.

If this first contest of eight is any indication of what the next seven will look like then it figures to be a war.

The fire that keeps me going covering sporting events is what will be the next game where you’ll say this is the first time I’ve ever seen this happen? 

That was the case Monday Night and until the day that I die, I hope I see many more of these.

Meanwhile, how did the Panthers respond vs Dallas?

An important win, but they know that they can’t get complacent and they have to build on every performance. This is a short season and every point matters. 

Scott Morganroth can be reached at southfloridatribune@gmail.com. You can follow him on Twitter @TribuneSouth. 

Don Mattingly, A True Class Act!

BY SCOTT MORGANROTH

I’ve always admired Don Mattingly as a player when he played his entire 14-year career for the New York Yankees from 1982-1995. He was the team captain from 1991-95.

I’ve always thought that a lifetime .307 hitter, with 2153 hits, 222 HR’s and 1099 RBI and a six-time All-Star, nine-time Gold Glove Award Winner, who won the American League Batting Title in 1984, should at least get consideration. 

There are other players with comparable numbers that have been enshrined in Cooperstown, NY.

Thankfully, the New York Yankees have retired his No.23 number and have honored Mattingly in Monument Park.

I was always such an admirer of Mattingly’s that I spent $350.00 for a Hydrostone Statue that sits in my office. 

I once told this to Mattingly when I attended a game a few years ago at Marlins Park. He quipped, “I hope that I can do well as a manager so that it increases in value.” 

Time will tell if that ever happens.

But how can I not like Don Mattingly?

The guy is from the Midwest. 

He hails from Evansville, Indiana. 

He’s close to my age as we were born in the early 1960’s. 

He’s a down to earth and has one of the most easy going personalities on the planet.

Since I started covering the Marlins last year, I’ve gotten to know him through our Media Zoom Calls.

Before I got involved with the Marlins last year, I didn’t have much experience with Zoom Calls. 

It’s safe to say that by the end of the year, I got a lot of practice and became much more comfortable.

In 2020, Mattingly guided the Marlins to the playoffs through a COVID-19 shortened season. 

He had to deal with everything imaginable as the virus was spiraling out of control. 

There were cancellations of games, unprecedented player movement, etc... 

But the man kept his team together and the team made the playoffs for the first time since 2003. 

He would go on to win the National League Manager of The Year.

The Marlins have stuck with him through an extensive rebuild when he was hired in 2016. Last year, he saw the fruits of his labor. 

No matter what questions we threw at Don, he gave straight answers and never avoided a question unless he truly didn’t know the answer to such as test results, etc...

But today, Mattingly reached an all-time high with me!

I did ask him about other sports dealing with COVID-19 and that baseball had to deal with these challenges first. 

When I asked him a question about the new vaccine, the thing that stood out was “He can’t wait to see all of our smiling faces in person again.”

Marlins reporter Jessica Blaylock acknowledged it on her Twitter account and I’m glad that she spoke for all of us! 

The job of a manager is not only guide his team on the field, but be the face of the franchise!

That person faces us every day so he or she must handle themselves in a dignified manner!

That’s what Mattingly does everyday. 

His players love him! 

He expects them to work hard everyday. 

He gives them an open door policy in the clubhouse. 

The players are a product of the leader that their manager is. He’s a calming influence.

We all enjoy and respect him in the media.

This is what it’s about. Some managers or head coaches get it. Some don’t. 

If they don’t they’ll be gone!

There are times in the media where we deserve criticism. That goes with the territory because of how we conduct our business with the decisions we make.

I’ve been fortunate to work with a lot of great coaches and managers through my 41 years covering all sports. 

Without a doubt, they all have different personalities and there are times when we can catch them at bad times at the office.

But when you have a sincere individual addressing a group of professionals in a matter for which Mattingly addressed us, how do you not root for the man?

If you don’t, shame on you!

Nowadays, it’s tough to do what we need to do because of our limited accessibility because we can’t have face-face-contact with anyone. 

So we have to rely on the virtual platform for the foreseeable future.

Hopefully that changes. But until it does, we all have to make the best of a tough situation.

At this stage of my life, I couldn’t think of a Manager/Leader that I would rather work with than Don Mattingly!

I’m Looking forward to seeing you again in person, Donnie! 

But in the meantime, I enjoy the updates we get with you through Zoom and I have to admit that I have not only benefited through the South Florida Tribune and our broadcasts, but I have learned some valuable life lessons as well! 

Don Mattingly is one of the most positive people I’ve ever met!

I can’t forget to mention that he recently signed a contract extension, so he’s not going anywhere.

Scott Morganroth can be reached at southfloridatribune@gmail.com. You can follow him on Twitter @TribuneSouth.

What Lies Ahead For The Florida Panthers?

BY SCOTT MORGANROTH 

It’s time to recap what we just saw during the Florida Panthers recent home stand and what lies ahead in a season which has an Original Six feel to it. 

The Panthers finished the home stand with a 3-2-1 record. If you want an ultimate roller coaster ride, this was it.

In a game that Florida should have secured two points, the contest on February 4, 2021 was the one that got away as the Nashville Predators won a 6-5 contest in OT scoring three unanswered goals. The Panthers looked great all night for the better part of 58 minutes but couldn’t close the deal.

Thankfully, they had just a day to think about it and rebounded for a 2-1 win the next night. Florida improved to 6-0-2 and remained undefeated in regulation time.

After sweeping the Red Wings in Detroit on January 30 and 31, these two teams squared off again on February 7th and 9th.

If there was ever a mismatch, this was it. 

On Super Bowl Sunday, Florida peppered Detroit goaltender Thomas Greiss for 37 shots but only one went in. The Red Wings surprised the Panthers by defeating them 4-1 and the Panthers lost their first game in regulation time.

As they did against the Predators, how did the Panthers respond?

You guessed it. They won 2-1 on Tuesday Night. 

Goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky looked impressive by stopping 31 of 32 shots to give the Panthers a much needed win.

Through four games, the Panthers amassed five points and remained near the top of the Central Division against opponents that don’t appear to be playoff contenders.

But every point matters. 

Would the Florida Panthers change their trend of losing the first game of a two-game series against the Tampa Bay Lightning when the two squads squared off on Thursday February 11, 2021?

At the morning skate, I noticed a Rocky IV feel to it as Florida had The Eye of The Tiger look and it showed that night with a convincing 5-2 win. The Panthers wanted respect and on this night they earned it defeating the defending Stanley Cup Champions. There was great buzz in the BB&T Center all night.

So would a win in the opening game of a series carry over and could the Panthers sweep their in state opponent?

Hockey Night In The Sunshine State on Saturday Night was like watching Rocky III as the Lightning looked like Clubber Lang and they pounded Florida 6-1. After a scoreless first period, Tampa Bay led 4-0 after two and the Panthers never recovered.

The Lightning won the game without Captain Steven Stamkos, who went on the NHL’s COVID-19 protocol list Friday. 

Before the game, the Panthers had a touching moment as they honored the victims that were tragically killed at Marjory Stoneman Douglas on February 14, 2018. They also wore their retro jerseys.

What lies ahead before the Panthers return to the BB&T Center on Monday, February 22 vs the Dallas Stars?

Florida hits the road to face the Tampa Bay Lightning on Monday Night at 7 PM. They enter the game with an 8-2-2 mark with 18 points. Tampa Bay has a 10-2-1 record with 21 points.

The Panthers travel to Carolina and face the Hurricanes on Wednesday, February 17th. Then they return to the Motor City and face the Red Wings on February 19-20.

In a year where there is no shortage of familiarity with each opponent as it was during the Original Six Days, it doesn’t take much for fortunes to turn around quickly during a shortened 56-game season where COVID-19 is making its presence drastically felt as rosters change all the time.

A good example of this will be later this season. 

The Panthers swept the Chicago Black Hawks on January 17 and 19th in Sunrise. 

They’ll face each other six more times this season. Chicago started the campaign 0-4. They are currently 7-5-4  with 16 points, and are in playoff contention.

Stay tuned as things are going to get very interesting, very quickly!

They’ll get interesting in many ways because games are postponed and schedules change all the time.

Scott Morganroth can be reached at southfloridatribune@gmail.com and you can follow him on Twitter @TribuneSouth.

Sunshine State Slugfest In Sunrise

BY SCOTT MORGANROTH 

The Florida Panthers are four games into a six game Homestand and they’re 2-1-1 as they’ve faced the Nashville Predators and Detroit Red Wings.

The opening game of each series hasn’t been kind to the Cats and they’ve lost to the Predators and Red Wings. They’ve earned five points thus far. In their two games versus the Red Wings, Florida was out scored 5-3 and it appeared as though the Panthers didn’t respect the Red Wings in the opener. 

That would change in the second contest as Florida defeated Detroit 2-1.

The Panthers (7-1-2) know there is a lot more work to be done against their cross-state rival and the defending Stanley Cup Champions, Tampa Bay Lightning (9-1-1). 

The Lightning currently sit atop of the Central Division with 19 points while the Panthers are in second place with 16.

The Panthers lead the all-time series 66-46-10-16. Florida leads the series at home 39-15-4-10. Tampa Bay has won the last two meetings 0-2-0 between the clubs. During the 2019-20 season, the Lightning won the series 3-1. Florida’s last home win occurred on October 4, 2019, as the Cats came away with a 4-3 triumph. 

During Thursday’s pre-game skate, Panthers Coach Joel Quenneville told us “there is no room for error and we have to do things the right way. We’ll learn a lot more about our team against a top opponent.”

Would the Panthers avoid losing the first game of a two-game series? 

Yes. 

When I attended the morning skate on Thursday, I saw the energy and intensity throughout the session for a team that was possessed to take on this challenge looking to take on a top tier opponent in an effort to gain respect.

It carried over into the game and they looked fantastic in the opener defeating the Lightning 5-2 and snapped Tampa’s six-game winning streak. 

Goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky stopped all 16 shots he faced at even strength and improved his record to 5-0-1, the best record through his first six games in his career.

The Panthers played like a team that was possessed and led 4-1 through the second period. 

For the night, Aaron Ekblad and Alex Wennberg each scored a goal and had an assist. Frank Vatrano, Carter Verhaeghe and Brett Connolly also scored. 

Verhaeghe’s goal turned out to be the game winner. He won a Stanley Cup Championship with the Lightning last season before moving down I-75 South to join the Panthers in 2021. He has seven goals this season.

Tampa Bay’s 21 total shots on goal are the least allowed by the Panthers in a game this season.

Florida registered a season high 44 hits and 13 penalty minutes.

When the game was over, Coach Joel Quenneville was gleaming.

“I thought it was an excellent game across the board,” he said. “Obviously, we’re excited about playing and meeting a big challenge today. The next game is going to be a bigger challenge, but at the same time, the excitement and the purpose behind which we played today was exactly how it had to be in order to be successful.”

“I thought we did what we had to do today, and I really liked the way we had pace to the game, and had possession of the puck a lot more.”

Bobrovsky added, “it’s definitely a big win for us tonight. We know Tampa Bay is a really good team, a balanced team. We crushed their attacks right in the beginning of the development. It’s definitely a big win for us to keep building the atmosphere in the locker room.”

Verhaeghe said this game had a special meaning for him.

“It was fun playing against the old squad,” he said. “The whole team was buzzing tonight. We were the better team at 5-on-5 tonight, and it showed. It’s always good to know where we stand but we can’t get complacent.”

After the victory, the coach was so pleased that he cancelled practice on Friday and gave his squad a day off to rest.

Was their any complacency on Saturday Night and how would the Panthers respond?

The Panthers outshot the Lightning 11-4 in the opening period, but the game was scoreless at the end of the first frame. The Panthers couldn’t capitalize on a four minute man advantage in this period.

But the Lightning stuck for four goals in the second period and had the Panthers reeling in their zone for much of the frame. Tampa Bay outshot Florida 17-13 as Bobrovsky did everything he could to stop what was coming in his direction. 

But the relentless, swarming play of the Lightning paid off as they led 4-0 after two periods.

The Panthers power play didn’t do them any favors through the first two periods, going 0-4. Florida would not get another power play the rest of the evening.

Tampa outscored Florida 2-1 in the third period to take a 6-1 decision.

The Panthers out shot Tampa Bay 34-28 and also out hit the Lightning 36-25. 

But in the end, all that mattered was what was on the scoreboard.

The Panthers knew it and judging by what they had to say after the contest, they were ready to hit the road and look for redemption against these same Lightning Monday Night at 7 PM.

Coach Quenneville said, “They (Tampa Bay) were a hungrier team. I don’t think they’ve had one of those games where they get outplayed, and they know how to win. They came back with a different appetite tonight, we didn’t get the lead early doing the right things, and it got a way from us when we got behind chasing it.”

Forward Aleksander Barkov added, “Obviously it didn’t go our way today. Tampa is a really good team, but we’ve got to play our own game in order to beat them, and we didn’t do that today.”

Defenseman MacKenzie Weegar said, “We just didn’t come to play tonight. We were in the game for a bit but the second period they just kept taking it to us. We weren’t ready for it, plain and simple. We’ll look for a bounce back Monday.”

In the Thursday Night win, Jonathan Huberdeau posted his 300th assist. He is the first Panther in franchise history to reach the 300 assist mark.

The second place Panthers take an 8-2-2 record into Monday Night while the Central Division leading Lightning are 10-2-1.

These two teams will see each other six more times and judging what I saw this weekend with the numerous roughing and fighting penalties called, there will be no shortage of bad blood between these two squads. 

Scott Morganroth can be reached at southfloridatribune@gmail.com and you can follow him on Twitter @TribuneSouth.

Panthers And Red Wings Memories

BY SCOTT MORGANROTH 

I have to admit that now I know what it’s like for a former player to face his old team.

For many years, I’ve come to the BB&T Center as a visiting writer with the Detroit Red Wings facing the Florida Panthers for the Detroit Monitor.

Being a Florida transplant, it was always great seeing a lot of familiar faces in Detroit. 

The pre-game meal was great.  

I would take photos with My Detroit colleagues, Trevor Thompson, Dana Wakiji, Ken Kal, Paul Woods, Ken Daniels, Mickey Redmond, Ted Kulfan, Helene St. James and Jimmy Devellano would come to town from the Sarasota-Bradenton Area. 

We would have great talks and eat together. 

It’s like old friends coming to town for a visit. 

Great stuff!

As a visitor, it was neat to meet some new people. 

Steve Goldstein, Craig Minervini, Bill Lindsay, Denis Potvin and Jessica Blaylock were always very hospitable. 

Panthers Hockey Communications Specialist Mike Lewis became a great friend and provided me with everything I needed. 

Before the game started, Thompson and I were texting each other back and forth. 

It was neat, but not the same. 

But heck, something is better than nothing. He said to me through the text messages how he missed coming to South Florida. 

At this time of the year, I’m sure he’d welcome some warmer weather. 

Thompson was always great for a few hugs! 

He would always check on me since my health hasn’t been very good in recent years. I’m very proud to call him another brother!

Because of COVID-19, the other team doesn’t travel and are forced to work remotely. 

There would be no hot meals in the Media Room. We would have our dinner in a box and we eat it in our assigned seats. It’s hard to get one-on-one interviews because of social distancing. Better safe than sorry, plus it’s the policy.

I have to admit that as much as I missed the freshly cooked meals, at least the thought of overeating doesn’t exist with the box meals.

There were some epic battles between these squads through the years. 

One of the players that I always enjoyed watching for Florida was legendary goaltender Roberto Luongo.

 

Like Red Wings Hall of Fame goaltender Terry Sawchuk, no goaltender will ever wear No.1 again. 

In my years of covering Hockey, Luongo was one of the best goaltenders that I’ve ever seen!

Going into Super Bowl Sunday’s Game vs the Panthers, Detroit always played well in South Florida. The Red Wings record was 10-10-2-5. 

The Red Wings entered Sunday’s game with an eight-game winless streak. The team is in the midst of rebuilding. When I arrived at the stadium, I felt with how well the Panthers were playing, Detroit would struggle mightily.

But Detroit battled hard and defeated the Panthers 4-1. The loss was the first in regulation time for the Panthers. 

Red Wings goaltender Thomas Greiss was superb in the pipes stopping 36 of the 37 shots he faced.

There were certain things that stayed the same. 

You could see Red and White Jersey’s in the stands and the chants of “Let’s Go Red Wings” could be heard at the BB&T Center. 

Life has a way of directing us in certain directions.

During my 41-years in Sports Media, it’s been a blessing to have met so many quality people, going to many venues and working with outstanding franchises.

I feel fortunate that because of the Detroit Red Wings, I can see them when the situation presents itself. By the same token, I’m very delighted to be able to cover Hockey in South Florida for a fledgling organization such as the Florida Panthers. 

It’s neat to talk to some of my newer colleagues as they enjoy some of my stories about the Red Wings another lifetime ago.

The next thing for me to do is to see these two squads play at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit.

But for now, it was a different feeling not seeing my old colleagues in Detroit. 

Perhaps, that will change one day when the COVID-19 improves and everyone is vaccinated.

But I’m enjoying life writing about the Panthers for The South Florida Tribune where it’s my responsibility to promote the local club and work with an Excellent Public Relations Staff!

Who in there right mind wouldn’t like to work with an outstanding coach like Joel Quenneville? 

The man has won three Stanley Cups and is destined to be enshrined in Hockey’s Hall of Fame in Toronto. 

I have renamed the BB&T Center to “My Hockey House” because it’s one of the best arenas I’ve ever worked in. 

Between the morning skates, practices and games, I spend a lot of time here. 

What’s even better is the arena is a 17 minute drive to my front door off the Sawgrass Expressway. 

Scott Morganroth can be reached at SouthFloridaTribune@gmail.com. You can follow him on Twitter @TribuneSouth.

What Sport Am I Covering?

BY SCOTT MORGANROTH 

Covering Sports in a pandemic is a different animal.

In Baseball, we’re accustomed to a series. 

Teams play as many as four-game series during a normal season. 

In 2020, we even saw a five-game series. 

Because of travel during COVID-19, Basketball and Hockey have gotten into the act to reduce the risk by not going to airports as much.

We all know that in a series teams make adjustments all the time. 

That’s very evident during the post-season.

During these two days I got used to what is now going the new norm in the NHL for 2021. 

Back-to-back nights with the Florida Panthers hosting the Nashville Predators. 

Under the revised alignment which minimizes travel, each NHL team will face a division rival eight times, four games in each venue during a 56-game campaign.

When I was growing up in the 1970’s, back-back-games were common. 

Teams would face each other, but the games would be in each home rink. 

Two games in two cities.

On Thursday Night, February 4, at The BB&T Center, The Florida Panthers lost a thrilling 6-5 decision in overtime to The Nashville Predators. 

If you were looking for an entertaining contest, then this was it. 

This game was a track meet throughout and if you were looking for star power, then you had it.

It was a first for me to see two players have five point games.

Since the Panthers don’t face the Predators during a conventional season, I didn’t know much about Filip Forsberg. 

On Thursday Night, I realized with a stud he is as he scored two goals with three assists giving him five points. He scored the game winner four minutes into overtime.

In a losing effort vs Nashville, Jonathan Huberdeau notched a hat-trick and added two assists to give him five points.

The Panthers had a 5-3 lead until late in the third period. 

The Predators scored three unanswered goals to come away with the win. 

Going into the game, Nashville had a four-game road losing streak, and were in seventh place in the Central Division. 

They improved to 5-5.

Meanwhile, the Panthers came away with a point to improve to 5-0-2. The Cats remained undefeated in regulation time.

Coach Joel Quenneville knew this was a contest that got away from his team, but didn’t dwell on it too much.

“I’m definitely disappointed in the way things transpired,” he said. “I think we can learn from it. Sometimes those types of comebacks against you, that’s definitely a learning curve, being comfortable and wanting to be out there in those situations. We could have played it better on the fourth goal.”

Huberdeau is glad that the Panthers won’t have days to think about this loss and talked about his first career hat-trick.

“I’m happy to get it out of the way,” he said. “But it would have been nice to get a win tonight. I think we should have won that one. A tough one to lose. At least we got a point, but tonight we have to forget about it. Tomorrow we are going to wake up, it’s a new day, and we know what to expect. We have to be better defensively. I thought offensively we had some chances, and we have to be the same offensively and a little better defensively.” 

Friday night would be much different than Thursday’s track meet.

This game was more of a street fight as the Panthers rebounded for a 2-1 win. 

Goaltender Chris Driedger stopped 24 of 25 Nashville shots improving his record to 3-0-1. Florida remained unbeaten in regulation time improving to 6-0-2.

Carter Verhaeghe and Aleksander Barkov had two points a piece.

When the contest was over, Coach Q was a bit relieved.

“ I think we’re comfortable later in games no matter what the score is,” Quenneville said. “I think we had a lot more composure in the third period, a lot more offensive zone time. I thought we played a hard game throughout.”

The tone of this campaign will be judging these meetings by a series. 

It’s as about adjustments. 

But once again, we’re all accustomed to seeing series in the post season in MLB, NBA and the NHL. 

This is a different animal now during the pandemic.

Scott Morganroth can be reached at SouthFloridaTribune@gmail.com. 

You can follow him on Twitter @TribuneSouth.