Panthers Win, 6-0

The Panthers closed out the pre-season with a 6-0 victory at home against the Islanders tonight in front of a decent crowd for a Monday night pre-season game (8,857). It was great getting back to the arena, and it was great seeing the Panthers live again.

First up, the game. Jay Bouwmeester had a big night - picked up a goal and two assists. Peltonen had three assists, too. Horton, McLean and Stewart all added a goal and an assist each, Stillman had a pair of assists, and Kreps and Olesz rounded out the goals while Bryan McCabe had an assist to his credit.

Anthony Stewart opened the scoring late in the first period, and throughout the game, Stewart really looked like a changed player. He wants to make the team, you can see it, and I think he's earned a spot this year. Early in the period, he did take a bad tripping penalty in the offensive zone, but the mistake is one he can rectify. The trip came on an aggressive forecheck. The Cats killed it off, and not too long after, he scored a goal.

In the second, a period that looked much better than the first, Kamil Kreps -- who has been one of the best players on the team this pre-season -- scored, followed just over a minute later when Rostislav Olesz redirected a shot from Bouwmeester on the power play.

With a 3-0 lead, Florida continued improving and they kept up a strong pace, started to throw a few more checks, and the passes were improved, as well.

The physical play did bring about a scary scene around the midway point of the final frame when Rostislav Olesz came up and neared the Islanders' Chris Lee to throw a body check. Lee did turn away from the check, there was no malicious intent, but Olesz did ultimately send Lee head-first into the boards. A scrum followed on the ice while Lee remained down on the ice for several minutes. Olesz was assessed a five-minute major for checking from behind, and a game misconduct. Michael Frolik served the penalty, and Lee was taken -- according to an Islanders' spokesman, conscious, responsive and with movement -- to a hospital to get checked out. So, good news there.

And again, there was nothing dirty about the hit. It reminded me a lot of last year when Booth turned away from Volchenkov and went crashing into the boards. An unfortunate accident, but it's just not easy to stop when you've got momentum carrying you at a player who, at the last second, turns his back to the play. Needless to say, the major penalty and misconduct was a justifiable call. I just strongly hope Islanders fans will recognize the hit as nothing more than an accident.

After the stoppage, which had effectively silenced the arena and brought the pace to a halt, the Islanders never really quite got going again and shortly after, Jay Bouwmeester picked up a goal.

Two or three minutes later, Michael Frolik was hit pretty hard and Ballard and Boynton were immediately there to defend him, while Wade Belak came flying in and basically jumped onto the crowd at the boards. Belak ended up with a misconduct.

In the final two minutes, Brett McLean added a goal and Nathan Horton took a good pass from Stillman and shot it by DiPietro.

Tomas Vokoun made 29 saves for the shutout.

Now, DeBoer has promised some things with this team. I did see a faster skating team, and I did see an aggressive forecheck. One thing I didn't see much of was puck possession. A few rare instances where the forwards passed back to the defense to make a change instead of dumping, but for the most part, I still saw quite a bit of dump and chase. That aside, though, when the Cats were able to establish themselves in the offensive zone, even at full strength, they sustained a lot of pressure and kept the puck and worked it around to each other very well.

Shawn Matthias looked good tonight. . . I didn't notice too much of Frolik, although he had a couple of good chances and a rocket of a wrist shot that DiPietro gloved down. . . Keith Ballard was everywhere. Big hits, dropping down and blocking shots. I noticed a giveaway, but he had a solid game regardless. . . Kreps was great again, and he won almost all of his faceoffs. He's playing with the confidence of a top six veteran right now and it showed tonight. A few slick moves and a hit or two, plus the goal. . . Horton played physical, but he looked like he was holding back a bit, and he still needs to work on faceoffs. He lost a lot of them. . . Cory Stillman had a few poor passes and a generally sloppy quality of play early in the game, but he pulled it together and contributed nicely. . . Nick Boynton is going to be a fan favourite, fast. Looks like a fantastic team player. He was there to defend after a big hit, threw a couple of his own, took a couple shots and blocked one or two as well, but beyond sticking up for his teammates, he was patting guys on the back on the bench, talking a great deal and getting up to Vokoun after a couple of saves with a pat on the pad or the back as well and maybe an apology for an unintentional screen. McCabe, Allen and Stillman were wearing the 'A's tonight, but even if they were to become the three letters full-time, it just goes to show that you don't need a letter to be a leader or a great teammate. Boynton seems to be a perfect example of this.