[moore4807]

COL- The quick flight out of Minnesota was probably best as Bonehead uses his time to review the stats and coaches notes. It seems overwhelming that the rest of the coaches feel this lineup is the one to go with. Coach Ramsay recommends putting C D. Shore back in over C S. Gomez on the second line. G T. Thomas is back between the pipes as agreed beforehand. So the team is ready to go and the coaches seem confident we can play our game against the Avalanche.

The first period shows the Panthers outshot by 13 - 7 margin but the hold the lead 1 - 0 as D Kulikov moved into the slot after dumping into the offensive zone. Two Panthers and three Av's battled for the puck when the puck came out from behind the net right to Kulikov, which left Av's G Varlamov helpless to stop the top shelf wrister. Despite the Av's hitting anything that moved there were no penalties called.

The second period saw the Panthers nearly even up the shot total 21 - 22, but the ref's found their whistles this period as both teams saw PP time. The scoring and lead now belong to the Av's as C M Duchene scored twice, one on a PP tally. There still is confidence in the locker room and the Panthers seem confident they can beat this team.

The tenacity and grit is evident and the Panthers are still rotating all four lines while Colorado has gone essentially with their top two lines. This pays off as LW Tomas Fleischmann scores twice on the even strength and the Panthers celebrate around Tim Thomas who made several outstanding saves keeping his team in the game and then sealing the win.