Tag Archive for: Florida

Five Takeaways from Panthers’ loss to Devils

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SUNRISE:  Two days after losing 7-3 in Boston, the Panthers dropped their second game in a row to the New Jersey Devils 4-2 at FLA Live Arena.

 

The visiting Devils were able to snap their six game losing streak, while the Panthers have dropped three of their last four games at home. 

 

Here’s tonight’s takeaways:

 

Eric Staal scores in consecutive games

This December has been a good one for Eric Staal.

 

The veteran forward has tallied 8 points in 11 games this month. In the 16 previous games, he failed to get a single point on the scoresheet. 

 

After signing with the team towards the end of October, the Panthers have had to rely on his services frequently with all the injuries they have suffered. It was a rough start to his Panthers career, however his recent production in the stat column has been fairly consistent heading into the holiday break

 

Florida gets Anton Lundell back  

The 21-year-old center has missed the last nine games due to a non-COVID illness. Tonight was the first game Lundell has played since Dec. 1 in Vancouver. 

 

The Finn didn’t seem to have any issue jumping back into the flow of things tonight. He played 14 minutes and was able to get on the scoresheet with an assist on Eetu Luostarinen’s goal.

 

“[It] felt great, it’s been a really long time. Tough time to be out,” Lundell said. “I’m finally happy that I’m able to join the team.”

 

He was also penalized with his first career NHL fight, though Lundell wasn’t sure if he’d count it as a tilt. 

 

“I don’t know if it counts as a fight or a wrestling match but whatever,” he added. 

 

Mackenzie Blackwood flipped the script of the game with key saves in the third

The Devils goaltender ended the night with 34 saves on 36 shots. 

 

The Panthers really peppered him around the front of goal, however he stood tall to keep it a one goal game when the Devils were trailing 2-1. 

 

He was able to make a flashy glove save on Ryan Lomberg in front of his goal. If that went in, the Panthers would have taken a two goal lead.

 

Less than a minute after that big save, the Devils went the other way and tied the game of of Jesper Bratt’s second goal of the game. 

 

With the Panthers down 3-2, they pulled the goalie for an extra attacker in the dying minutes of the third. The Cats had chances in high-scoring areas, but Blackwood slammed the door and the Devils put away the game with an empty netter. 

 

Sam Bennett’s puck control game was on full display

A big standout for me tonight was Sam Bennett’s composure on the puck. 

 

As the Panthers moved up the ice in transition, Bennett was really good at weaving around the Devil’s players to open up the ice. 

 

When Eetu Luostarinen scored to put the Panthers up 2-1 in the second, Bennett diced through the neutral zone, chipped the puck to himself on the boards, avoided a check and spun into open ice to hit a streaking Luostarinen. 

 

A huge part of Bennett’s game is his skating ability with the puck. That was evident tonight. 

 

Eetu Luostarinen gets one goal closer to surpassing his career-high 

It’s been a sort of breakout year for 24-year-old Eetu Luostarinen. 

 

He played the majority of last season as the fourth line center, which meant his ice time wasn’t ideal to showcase his skills. 

 

This season he was pushed up to the top-9 as a winger. With the increased ice time and role on the team, Luostarinen has shined. 

 

Last year, he finished the season with 9 goals in 78 games. In his 34th game of this season, Luostarinen buried his 8th.

 

He’s just one goal away from equaling his career-high goal total and we aren’t at the halfway point of the season yet. Luostarinen is on pace to shatter last year’s goal total. 

Five Takeaways from Panthers’ loss to Penguins

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SUNRISE: The Panthers were back at home on Thursday night to faceoff against the red hot Pittsburgh Penguins, who came to Sunrise riding a six-game win streak.

 

Backstopped by a strong goaltending performance and a multi-point night from their captain Sidney Crosby, the Penguins defeated the Panthers 4-2, extending their win streak to seven.

 

Here’s tonight’s takeaways: 

The illness bug continues to bite the Panthers

Injuries aside, because this team is heavily affected by it, the Panthers have been getting hammered by the “non-COVID” illness bug. 

 

Florida has seen many of their big time players miss time due to illness over the last few weeks. 

 

Last game Carter Verhaeghe was out of the lineup; Anton Lundell hasn’t played since Dec. 1 in Vancouver, and Spencer Knight just returned to the lineup tonight after nine days. 


The Panthers had to play tonight’s game without their leading scorer Matthew Tkachuk, who is out with… an illness.

 

Florida had to roll 11 forwards tonight, even with today’s call up of Aleksi Heponiemi. 

 

Even strength scoring belonged to the Panthers

In a 4-2 loss, Florida came out on top in one category – 5-on-5 goals. 

 

Both of Florida’s goals tonight came at even-strength. Their opponent on the other hand, didn’t score a single one of their goals at 5-on-5.

 

All four of the Penguins’ goals came when they were either up a man, or down.


Pittsburgh scored twice on the power play, once shorthanded and iced the game with an empty net goal when Florida had an extra attacker. 

 

Tonight was a goalie battle

For fans of the man in the crease, this was the game to watch. Pittsburgh’s Tristan Jarry and Florida’s Sergei Bobrovsky both battled hard to keep their team’s in the game.

 

For the visiting team, Jarry was the star of the game for Pittsburgh. The Pens goaltender had 32 saves on the night and kept the Panthers special teams off the scoresheet. 

 

Florida had a flurry of good looks in the second period, but Jarry slammed the door shut, as Pittsburgh took that period 2-0. 

 

On the other end of the ice, Sergei Bobrovsky started his fifth straight game, finishing the night with 35 saves and three goals against, two of which came from a Pittsburgh powerplay. 

 

Both goaltenders saw multiple odd-man rushes tonight and respectively followed many of those chances with big time saves.  

 

Ryan Lomberg played a solid game with a depleted forward lineup

Ryan Lomberg always puts in a valiant effort no matter how much ice time he gets. With 11 forwards in the lineup, two of which just came from the AHL over the last few days, the Panthers played Lomberg over 14 minutes tonight.

 

The 5 ‘9 forward started the game off hot with his linemate Eric Staal. The pair seemed to have a lot of chemistry with each other tonight and it paid off as they connected for the first goal of the game.

A falling Staal was able to get the puck towards goal before Lomberg was able to beat Jarry up high on a tough angle. 

 

Lomberg plays a fast, hard fore-checking game and tonight it was evident on how much work he does along the boards and corners.

 

Florida lost the game on special teams

While winning the even strength game tonight, Florida’s downfall was their special teams performance.

 

With the lineup having so many guys going in and out this week, the Cats had to do lots of line juggling for the special teams units. 

 

“We have had a different power play unit pretty much every game for the last four,” Panthers head coach Paul Maurcice said. “Start putting that together at five o’clock because the guys are coming to our lineup so late.”

 

On the penalty kill, Florida conceded two goals as the Penguins finished the night 2/3 on the power play. 

 

Florida had three power play chances of their own, however not only did they go 0/3 on the  man-advantage, they also gave up a shorthanded goal to Pittsburgh’s Kris Letang, which tied the game at one early in the second period.

 

The special teams battle killed the Panthers who played a relatively strong even-strength game. 

Five Takeaways from Panthers’ win over Blue Jackets

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SUNRISE: It’s been a struggle as of late in Pantherland. Florida had dropped three of their last four games, as they sat in the bottom half of the tight Atlantic Division standings entering Tuesday night’s game against the Columbus Blue Jackets.

 

The Panthers were able to  shake off their shaky play from last week tonight, defeating the Blue jackets 4-0, despite missing key players on both sides of the puck.

 

Here’s the takeaways:

Grigori Denisenko makes his season debut

When Florida took Grigori Denisenko 15th overall in the 2018 NHL Draft, they would have liked to see their first-round pick be a consistent force in the lineup a few years down the line. 

 

While Florida’s next two first-round picks, Spencer Knight (2019) and Anton Lundell (2020) have both become relied upon players in the lineup, Denisenko has only skated in nine NHL games so far.

 

Earlier today the Panthers announced that they recalled Denisenko from the Charlotte Checkers (AHL). With Carter Verhaeghe out of the lineup tonight, the 22-year-old Denisenko made his season debut. This is only the second NHL game he has played in the last two seasons. 

 

Denisenko finished the night with 13:14 TOI – while getting an opportunity to play on power play unit 2. 

 

“I was fine with his game,” HC Paul Maurice said. “He got a bunch of minutes and he held water and was fine.” 

 

Multiple Panthers leave the game with injuries

 After playing just 1:06 in the first period, Colin White’s night was done. 

 

The Panthers announced during the first intermission that the forward would not return to the game due to an upper-body injury, leaving the Panthers with 11 forwards for the rest of the night. 

 

Florida were already short-handed upfront entering the game, with Anton Lundell (illness) and Carter Verhaeghe (illness) being out of the lineup, in addition to Patric Hornqvist and Anthony Duclair (hasn’t played this season) still being on LTIR.

 

To add salt to the wound, early in the second period, Chris Tiernery took a hard hit near center ice, resulting in him heading down the Panthers tunnel. He would also not return to the game. 

 

The injury woes continue to hurt the Panthers this season. Florida has had to make multiple call ups in the last two weeks, with the likes of Zac Dalpe, Chris Tierney, Matt Kiersted, Aleksi Heponiemi, Grigori Denisenko and Alex Lyon all going between Charlotte and Florida over the last 10 days. Depending on the availability of those who were out of commission tonight, there could be some more moves coming. 

 

Matthew Tkachuk, the multi-point king

The most consistent player on the Panthers season has been the starboy Matthew Tkachuk. 

 

The team leader in points added to his impressive season total, getting a goal and an assist tonight. In 28 games, Tkachuk has 39 points. 

 

On top of that, he extended his multi-point game total this season to 14. 

 

With the Panthers forwards unit being plagued with injuries, Tkachuk has been able to contribute consistently, no matter who is on his line. 

 

Sergei Bobrovsky gets the shutout

Bob got the net again tonight, making it his fourth straight start in goal. 

 

Facing his former team, Bobrovsky stopped all 22 shots he faced in his first shutout of the season. 

 

“I felt good, it’s a big, big two points for us… I thought the guys did a great job, they shut them down, they didn’t give them anything,” Bobrovsky said. 

 
Spencer Knight skated this morning with the team but was not in the lineup as he has been out with an illness for the last two weeks. The Panthers practice tomorrow ahead of their Thursday night game against Pittsburgh, so there is a possibility Bob gets the night off, with Knight getting back into the net.

 

Gustav Forsling hits a career milestone 

After being placed on waivers by the Carolina Hurricanes before the start of the 2020-2021 NHL season, Gustav Forsling has completely transformed his career with the Florida Panthers.

 

Tonight, Forsling assisted on Brandon Monotur’s goal, giving the Swedish defenseman his 100th career NHL point, in his 266th game.

 

Forsling very well could be the best Bill Zito acquisition.  Forsling flew under the radar during his three season spell with the Chicago Blackhawks to start his NHL career. However, after three seasons in Sunrise, Forsling has emerged as a legitimate top pair defenseman, playing top minutes every night against the best players in the world.

Xavien Howard and the Miami Dolphins defense had a rough time in a 45-17 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Will Florida See Sports Betting Soon?

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Last year, Florida, under the governorship of a sports betting-supporting Gov. Ron DeSantis and a pro-gambling legislature, succeeded in closing a deal with the state’s powerful Seminole gaming tribe  that would have brought sports betting to the state in return for Seminole control of that betting.

A majority of Florida sports fans want to move on from their online casino play, like Intertops casino bonus games and move on to sports gambling in Florida, especially since sports betting is currently legal in more than half of U.S. states.

But the particulars of the deal, which would have let the Seminoles control sports betting by having mobile bets routed through servers located on their native lands, were ruled illegal by federal courts and the two sides seem to be back at Square One in their efforts to introduce Florida sports betting.

As the state government, the feds, gaming tribes throughout the United States, anti-gambling activists, legal observers and sports fans watch, it is becoming clear that this issue will almost certainly be fought out in the courts with no resolution seen for the near future.

Seminoles Team Up With the Feds

The Seminoles are doing everything that they can to ensure that the Tribe’s gaming compact with the State of Florida is reinstated. The deal is a potentially lucrative one for them.

If the federal district judge’s ruling that the compact – which granted the Tribe the exclusive right to operate Florida online sports betting — can be overturned, Florida sports bettors will be able to have their bets processed from anywhere in Florida via the servers located on tribal lands, regardless of where the bettor is located physically.

When the compact was signed in 2021 sports betting became temporarily legal in Florida but within months, federal district judge Dabney Friedrich rejected the proposed structure, calling it “fiction” that was designed to evade the IGRA requirement that all gaming activity “authorized” by a compact take place “on Indian lands.”

Opponents of the compact, including a number of non-tribal Florida casinos and anti-gambling activists, were pleased with the decision.

Now the Seminole Tribes and the Department of the Interior, which oversees tribal casinos are teaming up to see the compact accepted. The two bodies filled appellate briefs with the D.C. circuit Court of Appeals, arguing that the compact didn’t “authorize” online sports betting but rather authorized in-person sports betting on tribal lands.

The online sports betting component, they argue, was authorized by Florida state law. The brief states that sports betting provisions of the compact “reflect a permissible hybrid approach, wherein gaming activity that occurs off of the Tribe’s Indian lands is authorized under state law, and gaming activity that occur on Indian lands is authorized by IGRA pursuant to the Compact.”

In effect, says the brief, the language of the compact doesn’t specifically “authorize” online sports betting but rather transfers regulatory jurisdiction over sports betting wagers from the State to the Tribe.

The brief reads in part, “[b]ecause the jurisdiction over the placement of any wager occurring off of Indian lands would normally fall to the State, the compacting parties used IGRA’s jurisdiction allocation provisions to allocate the State’s jurisdiction over that specific aspect of the online sports betting transaction to the Tribe for regulatory purposes . . . so that the Tribe can regulate the [entire online sports betting] transaction from start to finish under the terms of the 2021 Compact. . .”

Allocation of Jurisdiction

In effect, by calling the compact an “allocation of jurisdiction” the DOI and the Seminole Tribe are trying to circumvent the IGRA’s “Indian lands’ limitation by converting betting that originates “off of Indian lands” into gambling that occurs “on Indian lands.”

Legal observers believe that the Seminoles and the Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Indian Affairs have a long road ahead of them in their efforts to overturn the District Court’s ruling. The brief cites 3 cases as support of the “jurisdiction-shirting” but in point of fact, none of these cases involve off-reservation gaming. Instead, they relate to state jurisdiction over other activities – activities that are completely unrelated to gaming.

For example, in Chicken Ranch Rancheria of Me-Wuk Indians v. California the case revolved around whether California acted in good faith regarding its demand of the inclusion of provisions relating to environmental regulation, tort claims and family law  in its compact negotiations.

In Pueblo of Santa Ana v. Nash, the court was asked to rule over whether a personal injury lawsuit that arose out of the alleged negligent serving of alcohol inside a tribal casino could be heard by a state court.

And in Dalley vs. Navajo Nation, the the issue involved whether the New Mexico state court was the place to hear a personal injury tort claim that arose out of a casino patron’s “slip and fall” on a tribal casino’s wet bathroom floor. 

While each case touched on casino and gaming issues, the question is whether those issues fell under the scope of IGRA. In those cases, the courts did rule that such extraneous issues were related to or necessary for the licensing and regulation of Class III gaming activities.

To win its case, the Seminole Tribe and the Bureau of Indian Affairs/Department of Interior will have to create precedent. There’s no history of a gaming compact being used to grant a  tribe regulatory jurisdiction over any type of gambling activities that occur on non-tribal state lands.

As things stand now, sports fans in Florida may have to wait quite a while as the state, the tribes and other gaming forces find a different avenue that will allow them to bring legal online sports betting to the state.

Oklahoma and Texas want in on SEC

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Since last week, it was rumored that the University of Texas and the University of Oklahoma were interested in joining the Southeastern Conference. These rumors have become a reality as it was confirmed that they have been in discussion for the past six months. This week, the University of Texas and University of Oklahoma have also issued a joint statement that confirms they will be leaving the Big 12 Conference in 2025 and have requested invitations to join the SEC.

 

This includes letting their current media rights agreements expire. Considering Texas and Oklahoma are the Big 12’s two biggest football programs, this a huge blow to their conference and their future remains uncertain. 

 

While it’s humbling that everyone wants to come to the SEC as it’s often considered the most competitive conference in college football, it questions how unfair the lesser competition of other conferences will be. Let’s take a look at the ACC and Big Ten for example. Every year, Clemson and Ohio State have a clear and easy path to the college football playoff, as their regular season schedules are a lot easier than any team in the SEC. 

 

With the two possible additions of Oklahoma and Texas, the SEC will certainly become a super conference at this point, with a potential total of 16 teams! This will change college football as we know it, and could pave the way for other super conferences to develop in the near future.