What a fitting game to close out 2024. I believe the Panthers broke the Rangers in June, exposing the teams holes, and quite honestly, they weren’t as sloppy as they have been lately. Last night was the best the team has looked since October, but mistakes were costly, and Igor Shesterkin isn’t able to bail them out every night, or at least try to. This is what happens when teams make bad mistakes and the goaltending is a step below expectations.
I have been pretty vocal about the future of Peter Laviolette, and for the most part I feel he hasn’t been a major factor in why this season has been a disaster. However, that opinion has changed as once again, with the game on the line, Laviolette decided that Mika Zibanejad should be the extra forward to try to tie a much needed confidence booster game.
We know how this went. Zibanejad whiffed on two great chances, followed by Aleksander Barkov icing the game with the empty netter. Meanwhile Filip Chytil–in only 14 minutes TOI–had 7 shots on net with numerous rush chances and looks to his line mates. We are past “getting Mika going” at this stage of the season. With younger, hungrier players on the bench, it’s time to shift gears away from the struggling veterans.
As 2024 comes to an end, let’s hope this roller coaster ride stops this endless drop we’ve been in. The year started off so promising, and now we’ve seen the steepest drop off in NHL history, or at least that’s what it’s shaping up to be. Call it quitting, mailing it in, whatever you want, this is not a fun hockey team to follow right now. Maybe it changes. Most likely, it won’t.
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