[moore4807]

The Panthers have had 4 days to prepare for St. Louis and has the experience of playing them once this season, a close loss and Bonehead wants to motivate the troops with that memory. Coach Stewart and Coach Pauwelyn have exaustively researched the tendencies of the Blues so far and are convinced we need to roll all 4 lines against the Blues who primarily rely on their top two lines. Coach McCabe is rejoined by Coach Tyulin who is surprisingly talkative but clearly is deferential to Coach McCabe's wishes. Coach McCabe is adamant that with the four lines rolling he needs to equalize play among the defense pairings and hopes there is not too much special teams play from the Blues.
As the puck is dropped here is the first period lines

The first period is not horrible but the Blues are flying and the home team looks like their legs are set in cement. The only damage is a Chris Stewart ES goal at the 11:12 mark. There were only two penalties called but both were holding penalties against the Panthers who were trailing the play and not skating hard. Coach Stewart is unusually agitated and Bonehead keeps his comments brief and lets Craig have his say... Most of what was siad cannot be printed in family newspapers and would surely shock his wife, but the message seems to have gotten through to the players!
Bonehead sees no urgent need to change up strategy, but definitely wants more shots generated so "Unleash the Beast" comes early!

The second period has no scoring but the skates are pumping and the shots are flying for the Panthers! The Blues took their first penalty of the game, but the Panthers couldn't cash in on the opportunity. Coach Stewart is pleased with the results and is urging the players to keep it up for twenty more minutes. Bonehead wants more time for the first line to work its magic so he drops the third line to 5 mins. and adds 5 mins to the first two lines to get the equalizer in the third.

The third period is a great disappointment as the Blues tally twice early for a three goal cushion and The frustration comes out in dumb penalties and while the Panthers hit the post and the crossbar on good shots, they just can't get one on the scoreboard... The final is a 3 -0 shutout and some of the fans are booing as the game ends.

The post game conference is somber and not many questions are asked but one brash young sports reporter decides to test Bonehead... " Coach Moore, you didn't visibly change anything in the third period, are you admitting defeat already this early in the season?... Bonehead starts to rise to the bait, then decides to tweak the reporter instead for everyone's enjoyment... " Gee you know, I didn't think of that! You think we should of maybe played harder? Bent the posts to make sure those shots went in? The third period results are what they are son." Bonehead points to the dry erase board behind him "We made adjustments to T.O.I. and a line that hadn't been scored on in the first two periods got lit up twice? OK I'll admit that but unless you have an answer to your own question that you care to share with all of us - next question?" Some of the veteran reporters are snickering but no one offers anything else and the Coach then heads upstairs where the seven and seven is waiting to be poured.