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Anderson and Panthers end 13 game loosing streak

A year ago Carolina finished the season against these Florida Panthers and the Hurricanes played simply for pride or for their jobs. Tonight the Hurricanes had a chance to make the play offs for the Stanley Cup to play for; while the Panthers all they had to play for was pride. Craig Anderson, goalie of the Panthers, played like a play off goalie. the Canes’ controlled their own play off destiny tonight, but let it slip away with a 4 to 3 loss to the Panthers. Now the Hurricanes’ play off hopes rests in the hands of the team that beat them tonight. This year the Panthers end their season in Washington, D.C. against Alex Ovechkin and the Capitals.

Not since 2002 had the Panthers defeated the Hurricanes’ home ice. Tonight Florida played hard and their victory will most likely spoil the Canes’ chances of making this year’s play offs. Panther’s goalie Craig Anderson deserves to be player of the game. Anderson entered the game in the second period after Tomas Vokoun left with a back pain. Anderson matched the intensity of Eric Staal, Sergei Samsonov, Scott Walker and the Hurricanes who fired 46 shots on net, Florida’s goalie matched this effort with great stops and fantastic pad work. Trevor Letowski struck first for the Hurricanes and it appeared that the Canes’ intensity would take the fight out of the visiting Panthers. However, late in the period Jay Bouwmeester and Steve Montador scored and put the Panthers ahead of Canes by one. Before the buzzer sounded to close the first period the Hurricanes swarmed around Tomas Vokoun’s net, yet were unable to tie the score. While Vokoun weathered this storm he had could not return in the second period because of a back strain.

Scott Walker, acquired after the Hurricanes won the Stanley Cup, re-signed with the club over the summer with hopes of making another run at the Cup. Tonight he put for a great effort tonight winning face offs and fighting for position in front of Anderson’s net, yet Anderson was just too good. Eric Staal gave Hurricane fans hope when he scored on a pass from Joe Corvo to put the Canes one point behind the Panthers. Staal has become the leader of the Hurricanes, since Brind’Amour went down with injury Staal has done it all; sacrificing himself in front of the net for position, helping team mates score with a pass great pass, or scoring himself to get the club back into a contest. Staal’s goal tonight was a beauty; he held onto the puck until the last possible moment when he fired, with a defender hanging on him, to beat Anderson. The new captain’s efforts were matched by those of Matt Cullen and Sergei Samsonov. Cullen returning from a concussion looked healthy and played well. It seemed that Samsonov was a part of all the scoring and pressure on Anderson. Neither team lacked effort in this game, the Hurricanes had several misscues in the neutral zone that led to Panther goals; credit the Panthers for taking advantage of these mistakes.

Last year these same two teams met in the final game of the season; like this year Craig Anderson had a great game at the RBC Center too. A year ago it took a Rod Brind’Amour goal in over time for positive end to a frustrating season following the Stanley Cup victory of the previous year. We will have to wait until tomorrow to see if Anderson and these Panther spoilers can upset Ovechkin and company in Washington, D.C. I am not a betting man, but I would not bet against the Russian winger and band of young skaters; all eyes are now on the Caps and Panthers game tomorrow.

This entry was posted on Friday, April 4th, 2008 at 11:01 pm and is filed under Erik Cole, Scott Walker, Chad LaRose, Trevor Letowski, Alex Ovechkin, Florida Panthers, Sergei Samsonov, Eric Staal, Tomas Vokoun, Washington Capitals. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.