Tale Of Two Games Versus Florida Panthers

BY SCOTT MORGANROTH

SUNRISE, FL

What a difference a few days makes.

Going into the Detroit Red Wings game against the Florida Panthers at the BB&T Center on Thursday February 4, I expected a playoff type atmosphere. 

For the most part it was. There were 16, 991 fans and no shortage of Red Wings jerseys as you can see here in the pre-game skate from My Vantage Point in the Press Box. There were many "Let's Go Red Wings Chants" throughout the contest to go along with an octopus thrown onto the ice at the end of the game.

However, at the end of the game, the Florida Panthers cruised to a 6-3 win and the rubber rats also got thrown onto the ice. 

This was Florida's third straight win over Detroit dating back to March 19, 2015 here in Sunrise, a 3-1 margin.

Florida won the first meeting of the season with an overtime 2-1 triumph at The Joe Louis Arena on November 29, 2015.

There was a 2:36 minute stretch in this contest for the Panthers who scored three goals to take a 3-0 lead midway through the first period.

Rookie sensation Dylan Larkin scored a power play goal with seven seconds left in the first period off the face off to make it 3-1

In his South Florida debut, Larkin would score two goals against Panthers Goaltender Roberto Luongo,  who stopped 36 shots for his ninth straight win at home and moved past Tony Esposito into seventh on the NHL's career wins list with 424.

Another milestone came from the ageless 43-year old wonder Jaromir Jagr got his 1,100th career assist and joined five other players in NHL History: Wayne Gretzky, Ron Francis, Mark Messier, Ray Bourque and Paul Coffey.

Jagr also had a goal in the game which was his 738th, putting him three behind Brett Hull for third on the NHL list. The game was Jagr's 1,800th game which includes playoff appearances.

Jagr's big night occurred against Red Wings backup goaltender Jimmy Howard, who made 27 saves, but was saddled with his seventh consecutive loss. Howard's last win was on December 3, 2015 at home against the Arizona Coyotes.

But to Howard's credit, he was facing a red hot Florida Panthers squad. After the Red Wings game, Florida's winning streak reached five, all of them by at least three goals. 

The Panthers have scored at least five goals in each of their last four games; the first time this has happened in franchise history.

Florida improved to 16-0-1 when scoring at least four goals.

To explain the type of season Florida has had, on February 2, 2016, the Panthers appeared on National Television for the first time in 2 years on the NBC Sports Network as they won an impressive 5-2 contest on the road against the Washington Capitals.

I saw a first in this game. Red Wings Coach Jeff Blashill pulled Howard with 8:34 left in the third period while Detroit was on the power play which resulted in a Mike Green Goal. 

Former Red Wing and Panthers coach Gerard Gallant had a hard time explaining how the team has scored five goals in four straight games.

"I don't know, you know," Gallant said. "Teams go on streaks. But we're putting pucks in the net and guys are confident. It's about putting pucks in the net, skating and being confident."

While most people come to Florida for Spring Break, the Red Wings came to Florida after the All-Star Break. The night before in Tampa, Detroit dropped a 3-1 decision to the surging Tampa Bay Lightning (29-20-4) with Petr Mrazek between the pipes.

Detroit left the Sunshine State going 0-2. 

Nevertheless, Red Wings Coach Jeff Blashill Didn't Leave Sunrise, FL., with a bad taste in his mouth despite his team being down 3-0 early in the game acknowledging that this lead was too much to overcome.

"Yeah but to be honest, I thought we came out and played really well," Blashill said. I thought we played well early. I thought our battle level and compete level were really good. I thought our execution level was good for the most part.

"In the end, I was really happy with the way our guys continued to battle back and I was real happy with the effort. I was real happy with their character."

Blashill also added, " It was one of those nights from a process point I was happy with a lot of areas. That might sound funny to fans when you lose 6-3, but again anybody can come and watch the tape, and see a lot of the good things we did, and the execution was pretty good to be honest with you."

On Saturday, February 6, the Red Wings would bounce back from this loss by hammering the New York Islanders 5-1 at the Joe Louis Arena. 

Red Wings Announcer Mickey Redmond admitted during the telecast that he wasn't looking forward to Detroit facing the Panthers Monday Night.

By the end of Monday Night, Pavel Datsyuk and Mrazek allowed Redmond and Red Wings Nation to breathe easy as Detroit defeated Florida 3-0. This was a much needed win for Detroit as it seeks it's 25th straight playoff appearance.

The only numbers that mattered on Monday was Jagr reached another milestone just by stepping on the ice. The Panthers forward appeared in his 1,600th career regular season game.

Jagr was already 10th all-time in games played, but he's now 12 games behind Ray Bourque for ninth.

Red Wings legend Gordie Howe holds the all-time record with 1,767.

The other number was simply the Red Wings 3-0 shutout over Florida and Mrazek has a career-high four shutouts this season. He out played Panthers backup goaltender Al Montoya, who finished with 28 saves.

On Wednesday Night against the Ottawa Senators, Mrazek turned in another stellar performance in a 3-1 victory. The Senators lone goal occurred with 2:24 left in the third period. 

Mrazek, who turns 24, on February 14, had a shutout streak snapped at 133:29 and improved his record to 21-10-4. Going into the Ottawa game, he had a 1.97 GAA. 

This is a guy who was the 141st overall draft pick by the Red Wings in the 2010 draft.

The Red Wings return to Florida on March 19 at 7 PM and I can only imagine how intense the contest will be with playoff berths on the line.

I'm definitely looking forward to seeing this game.

As of this post, the Red Wings have a 28-18-8 record for 64 points and are in second place in the Eastern Conference Atlantic Division. 

Meanwhile Florida is leading the Atlantic Division with a 32-16-6 mark with 70 points. .

Scott Morganroth is a member of the Detroit Sports Broadcasters Association and can be reached at www.scottsports33.com.

Which Drought Will End?

BY SCOTT MORGANROTH

While this years Stanley Cup Finals may lack the star power of last years with the Detroit Red Wings and Pittsburgh Penguins not returning for a third year in a row, there is another intriguing potential match up.

During the 1971 NHL Finals, CBS had a classic match up featuring the Chicago Black Hawks and Montreal Canadiens. The announcing team was Hall of Fame Broadcaster Dan Kelly and Jim Gordon.

How many fans remember who played on both of these teams? For the Black Hawks, there was Bobby Hull, Tony Esposito and Pat Stapleton. Montreal had legends Ken Dryden, Jean Beliveau, Jacques Lemaire, Henri Richard and John Ferguson.

Montreal won this series 4-3 as Beliveau and Ferguson retired as Stanley Cup Champions in a league that had only 14 teams.

How things have changed. The NHL has more than doubled in size.

This is a year that one of the leagues Final Four will break a long championship drought. Is it possible that we could have a rematch of the 1971 Stanley Cup Finals? Could we have two Original Six teams in the Finals?

The answer to both questions is absolutely!

The Chicago Black Hawks have the longest drought 0f the Final Four. They won their last championship in 1961.

The Philadelphia Flyers last championship occurred in 1975 when the Broad Street Bullies led by Bobby Clarke, Dave "The Hammer" Schultz, Rick MacLeish, Bernie Parent, Gary Dornhoefer, Bob Kelly and Bill Barber piled up penalty minutes and two championships.

It's hard to imagine that it's been since 1993 that the Montreal Canadiens won their last championship as they won their 24th Stanley Cup by defeating the Wayne Gretzky led Los Angeles Kings. The Coach of the Canadiens was former Red Wings bench boss Jacques Demers. Hall of Famer Patrick Roy was the goaltender for Montreal.

During this season, the San Jose Sharks set an NHL record for most losses in a season with 71. The Sharks had the fewest ties ever with two and had the most home losses with 32. San Jose had a 17-game losing streak and finished the year with an 11-71-2 record with 24 points.

Speaking of the Sharks, they are the top seed in this tournament and are looking for their first Stanley Cup Championship. If they make it to the finals, they have home ice advantage.

When was the last time you saw a playoff tournament the featured the top two teams meeting in one Conference Finals as we are with the Sharks and Black Hawks facing off in the West.

For that matter, when was the last time you saw the bottom two teams in a conference battling for their right to be amongst the Final Two in the East.

It will be interesting to see if the illustrious tradition of the Montreal Canadiens will be enough to give NBC big ratings. If the Flyers make it to the Finals, NBC should be fine with that major television market.

But I have to hand it to both of these teams for advancing as far as they did. The Montreal Canadiens won a pair of seven game series by ousting the Washington Capitals and Alexander Ovechkin along with the defending champions Pittsburgh Penguins led by Sidney Crosby.

The Flyers earned there way by eliminating the New Jersey Devils and future Hall of Fame Goaltender Martin Brodeur. Then Philadelphia did the unthinkable by overcoming a 3-0 series deficit and a 3-0 margin in the seventh game to rekindle the Boston Massacre of the Bruins faithful.

With the Flyers and Canadiens being the seventh and eighth seeds in their conferences, they're playing on house money. Nobody expects them to do anything. The underdog role could suit either organization just fine when one of these squads gets to the finals.

The Flyers fans have to be thrilled at what they accomplished and certainly validated Yogi Berra's saying that "It's not over until it's over." The Boston Bruins know it now and will not forget this blown opportunity to snap their drought which dates back to the 1971-72 season when they defeated the New York Rangers.

If Chicago wins the Stanley Cup, NBC announcer Ed Olczyk will receive a championship ring because he is the Black Hawks regular color commentator. I still have a feeling he'll show professionalism and be as neutral as possible working with his seasoned pro partner Mike Emrick.

But if the Black Hawks do win the Stanley Cup, I can just imagine how much more pressure will be on the Chicago Cubs to win a title in a drought that has lasted over 100 years.

Meanwhile, the NHL could receive a boost if the Sharks win the Stanley Cup by bringing a championship to the San Francisco Bay area. There could be no better publicity then to grow the game than in Northern California. If the Sharks beat Montreal, it would only enhance their championship by defeating this legendary Original Six Team.

With three major USA Media Markets, and the most storied franchise in NHL history, it will be interesting to see how this all plays out.

I'd personally like to see the Black Hawks and Canadiens face off again in the Stanley Cup Finals with the Windy City emerging as champions. But if Montreal does win the Stanley Cup, they will have earned it by beating the best competition out there. For an eighth seed to win a title, this would be quite an accomplishment.

More importantly, in this calender year, if Montreal wins it's 25 Stanley Cup, they will only trail the New York Yankees by two titles since the Yankees defeated the Philadelphia Phillies in the 2009 to win their 27 championship. These sleeping giants will have awoken.

Lets drop the puck, let the intrigue begin as we find out how high or low the ratings are plus which drought will end?

Scott Morganroth can be reached at scottsports33@aol.com and his blog can be read at www.scottsports33.com.