The depleted Florida Panthers rolled into Edmonton on Thursday night and kept their hot streak going, despite a rather mild offensive effort. Goalie Craig Anderson was the star of the game making 41 saves and earning a shutout in the Panthers’ 2-0 victory over the Oilers.

From a Florida perspective the gamed lacked sizzle as the Panthers spent the majority of the game on the defensive trying to hold off a ferocious Edmonton attack. The 1st period came and went with no goals as Florida was outshot 13-4. In the 2nd period it would again be Edmonton on the attack, but Florida would notch the only goal. Stephen Weiss scored on Florida’s only power play of the evening to give the Panthers a 1-0 lead. In the 3rd period Edmonton would again come gunning for a goal but Anderson was there to stonewall them. Florida was outshot 13-3 in the final period, Radek Dvorak would add an empty net goal with 3 seconds left, sealing a 2-0 victory for the Panthers.

It wasn’t a pretty game, not if you’re a fan of offense. Florida only mustered 16 shots on goal, but as in recent games Florida has made the most of the few shots on goal they get. Good news out of this game, Florida continues to roll despite being depleted by injury, they scored on their one and only power play opportunity, and Anderson was fantastic in goal earning the shutout.

The Panthers are now 6-1-2 in their past 9 games and will finish their road trip through Canada with games in Calgary on Friday and Vancouver on Sunday. It has been said coach Peter DeBoer was considering playing Tomas Vokoun Friday in Calgary as he has a stellar career record in games there, and Anderson had looked shaky in net recently. After last night’s performance though, it would be hard to argue Anderson hasn’t earned the right to remain the starter. Anderson is now 8-2-3 on the season and last night’s effort lowered his GAA to 1.94 and gave him his 3rd shutout of the season.

The health of some of the Florida Panthers’ injured scorers seems to be on the mend, though getting a solid answer about possible returns is hard to come by. Early this week several of the team’s injured players got back on the ice to test their progress.

Nathan Horton was back on the ice Monday and appeared to be skating just fine, though he was still favoring the ankle with a deep laceration and is not ready for games just yet. Cory Murphy plans to practice midweek and has every intention of giving it his all, but the shoulder that sidelined him last season is still of concern. No real timetable exists for Murphy getting back on the ice for games. David Booth says his shoulder is doing just fine and according to him, he is ready to go. Booth however is not expected back until the end of the week at best.

Richard Zednik appears to be the closest to a return. His injured left elbow has healed enough to allow him to compete fully in practice and it is possible he could return any day now. However, there is concern as to how his elbow will hold up in the more physical game environment.

At this point, given how the team is playing, management and the coaching staff shouldn’t rush to get any of these guys back on the ice. The Panthers are doing much better than just staying afloat without these guys, they are being forced to play as a whole team and work hard for victories. More importantly, everyone is chipping in goals and the team is WINNING. The NHL season is a long one and we aren’t even halfway so there is no need to rush these guys back. At the sametime, lets not allow them to rush themselves back either.

The Florida Panthers picked up another win against Ottawa last night with a thrilling 4-3 overtime victory. The Panthers exhibited a never say die attitude in coming from behind 3 times in the game and stealing the win with just 10 seconds left in overtime to improve to 5-1-2 in their last 8 games.

Florida continues to get production from different players each game and last night was no different. The 1st period ended 1-1 with Nick Boynton scoring his 3rd of the year to pull Florida even after falling behind 1-0. The 2nd period would be a wild affair that would see the score increase to 3-3.

Ottawa would retake the lead at 2-1 just 2:32 into the period, but Michal Repik would score his first NHL goal 1:20 later to tie it up 2-2. Repik had just yesterday joined the team after being called up from Rochester, not a bad start to his NHL career. 5 minutes later Ottawa would again retake the lead at 3-2, but Florida again had a quick answer as Jay Bouwmeester would score on the power play 1:38 later to tie the game again, 3-3.

The 3rd period would see a flurry of shots on goal by both teams, but to no avail. Overtime was a tighter affair as Ottawa managed 4 shots and Florida 2, but Stephen Weiss made sure 1 of those 2 Florida shots ended the game as he scored with under 10 seconds to go in the OT to give Florida the 4-3 win.

Florida’s effort was very impressive against a tough Ottawa team on the road. In coming from behind 3 times in the game, the Panthers showed an all around steely resolve to win. The Panthers continue to play much better hockey, in all facets of the game. Florida had a power play goal tonight, shut down Ottawa’s power play, and even outshot an opponent for the first time in recent memory. All seems to be running smoothly for the Panthers and at the moment there is no reason to assume that will change.

Florida Panthers’ head coach Peter DeBoer announced over the weekend that Craig Anderson would remain the starting goalie for tonight’s clash in Ottawa with the Senators. DeBoer previously stated that the team would stick with Anderson so long as he had the hot hand in net.

Saturday’s 4-0 loss to the Boston Bruins has not changed DeBoer’s mind. Anderson still appears to be the steadier of the two in net, still has a better record and a better GAA. In defense of his decision, DeBoer said that it would be no different if roles were reversed. If Vokoun had been starting and gone on a hot streak, he would not have been pulled after one bad performance either.

In defense of Anderson, the way the Panthers’ offense was playing, they could have played 6 periods against Boston and still not scored. The goalie is not always to blame for a team’s struggles, this is one of those times. Anderson has been stellar in net this season, the Panther defense has struggled though at times and left their goalie (be it Anderson or Vokoun) hanging to try and stop 40 or more shots.

The Florida Panthers have been bitten harder by the injury bug than perhaps any other team in the NHL this season, and unfortunately the offensive players have taken the greater share of that beating. With some of the team’s biggest offensive producers on the sidelines with injuries, the Panthers have had to turn to other players to pick up the slack and keep the team afloat.

Nathan Horton, Richard Zednik, Cory Stillman, and more recently David Booth, have all fallen victim to injuries and find themselves on the side watching as their team battles for wins. Cory Stillman has been on the injured reserve since November 18th with a concussion, though word is he could soon be returning. Richard Zednik has been on the IR since November 25th with a left arm injury and is expected to be out for several weeks. Worse yet, Nathan Horton was placed on the IR November 27th with a deep ankle laceration and is out indefinitely.

Last Sunday, November 30th, David Booth suffered a shoulder injury in the first period of the team’s game against the New York Rangers and has yet to return, though he is expected back soon. What does all this mean though?

In losing these 4 players, Florida has lost a huge chunk of offensive production. The Panthers have scored 62 goals this season and 26 of those (42%) came from these 4 players. So far, things are looking just fine for the Panthers, other players have been stepping up to fill the void. David Booth had been taking the lead in offensive production in the absence of the other three, until going down himself last weekend. Booth leads the team with 12 goals, Horton is 2nd with 6.

Three players in particular have stepped up to help in the absence of the injured, Booth (until injured), Gregory Campbell, and Jay Bouwmeester most notably have stepped up their game to keep their team afloat. Three other players however have yet to match the effort of the aforementioned three and help their team score goals, Radek Dvorak, Stephen Weiss, and Rostislav Olesz.

All in all, the Panthers are figuring things out. The team is starting to adjust to their new schemes and game plans under Peter DeBoer, and more importantly are playing well as a team as of late. Since losing Horton, the Panthers have taken 7 out of a possible 10 pts in their 5 games and are 3-1-1. Hopefully the Panthers can continue to get production from role players until Horton and the others return, at which point the team will receive a tremendous boost on offense, one that perhaps could propel them to a playoff run.