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Old 01-31-2015, 08:14 PM   #83
moore4807
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Join Date: May 2002
Location: Punta Gorda FL.
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Game 8 vs. Boston Bruins Oct 17th

The morning skate is subdued with he sudden injury to Hemsky, so Bonehead decides to talk to the team and cut the practice short.

As the head coach Bonehead tells the team his moves to the lineup;
He's calling up LW/RW Joey Crabb (6.0/6.0) from San Antonio and was moving Versteeg to first line RW from 3rd line LW. Jesse Winchester was inserted into the 3rd line spot for his efforts this season. C Nick Bjugstad is moved to 1st line C and Scott Gomez drops to 2nd line C. RW is also flopped with Brad Boyes going to 3rd line and 3rd PK forward with Jesse Winchester as C. Billy Butler was now 2nd line RW for this trial period.

The dressing room is relaxed before the game and a lot of ribbing is going on surprising Bonehead. Coach Pauwelyn says he thinks the team chemistry is going to be fine and we should be competitive with Boston tonight. Coach Ramsay is somewhat doubtful that C Bjugstad is ready for +20 minutes ice time as first line C, but he will monitor his play and report to Bonehead. Coach Tyulin reports the pairings is as usual 25/25/10 and Kulikov/Robak are limited 3rd pair.(no PK/PP time).

The first period is played and the score is tied at 1 - 1 and the shots are equal at 10. C Nick Bjugstad (7.0a/8.0a) has the first goal of the game on the PP, pleasing everybody, and its LW Milan Lucic (8.0c/8.0c)getting the game tying goal later in the period.

The second period sees an early PP goal from RW Bobby Butler on a redirect of a Brian Campbell slapshot. Again its just past mid period when C David Krejci scores from the slot on the rebound of a LW Milan Lucic induced scrum to the side of the net. The shots are 18 - 17 Bruins and Bonehead feels the game is slipping away... So he tells Coaches Tyulin and McCabe to go 20/20/20 defense and put Kulikov/Robak on 2nd pair and on the 2nd PP.
The third period immediately proves Bonehead wrong as Kulikov stops skating and pulls down the Bruin forward deep in the Panthers zone with a hook right in front of the referee. It only takes Boston 8 seconds to ram home a Iginla power play tally to take the lead 3 - 2. Coach Tyulin stares at Bonehead but Bonehead won't acknowledge him and encourages the lines to skate hard and get open. This works as RW Brad Boyes also brings home the bacon 2 minutes later on an even strength marker. The game is slightly leaning the Panthers way but still tied at 3 when Coach Ramsay taps the checking line to go out against the Bruins top line with just over two minutes to play. D Kulikov redeems himself by stripping RW Iginla of the puck along the boards and passing to his defensive partner Robak. Robak's pass is tape measure to LW Sean Bergenheim and a 3 on 2 develops as the Panthers defensive pair skates to the bench for a change. Marcel Goc SCORES!!! 1:42 left in the game and the arena is rockin!!! The Panthers successfully kill off the clock and gladly take the win as the Bruins look shocked.

The postgame interview is short and Bonehead does some boasting of his own. "2 PP goals, a win against a playoff caliber team, and players embraced the new roles and produced, what more could the press want???" of course the questions fly about why aren't the Panthers actively going after a replacement RW???, Does Bonehead really think Versteeg had a good game tonight??? Bonehead points out Hemsky had to play two games before he got his goals for the Panthers, and Versteeg is a professional hockey player who will rise to the occasion. Bonehead says he is not ruling out looking for help, but with his current squad playing this well it's not a pressing need at the moment. The press conference breaks up after the players comments are solicited.
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