Just as he was catching fire this season, Ville Peltonen will be cooled off with a few weeks on the bench. Peltonen sustained a broken bone in his left foot during last Saturday’s 8-4 victory over the Atlanta Thrashers. Xrays have confirmed the broken bone and Peltonen has not skated in any practices yet this week.

Peltonen missed 24 games last season with a foot injury, but he insists this injury is not as severe and that he will be back on the ice sooner rather than later. It is believed that Peltonen will miss around 2 weeks before he returns. Peltonen has 8 goals and 11 assists this season, including 4 goals in the teams last 5 games.

Although Peltonen isn’t a pillar of the offense necessarily, he is prone to making timely contributions in games that the Panthers could miss over the duration of his injury. If nothing else, Peltonen’s absence means lines will be changed and/or shuffled and throw off the chemistry of a team that already faces the challenge of carrying their hot streak over to Friday’s game after having a 5 day break from games.

Few people in America right now can say the economic downturn hasn’t effected them in one way or another. People are losing their cars, jobs, and homes as a result of the recession that grips the nation. America’s professional sports leagues are not immune either. Sure, owners might be making a few million dollars less these days, but players are still getting paid and the games go on. However, if you pay close attention, the games are going on but with fewer butts in the seats to see them in person.

Franchises across all 4 of America’s major sports are rolling out deals to try and put asses in the seats again and keep fans interested in their teams. Florida has been hit particularly hard by the economic downturn, and the teams in South Florida are looking for ways to draw the fans in despite tighter purse strings. So far this year the Florida Panthers have distributed and average of 15,156 tickets per game which is below last seasons average of 15,436 per game. Even with that number of tickets distributed, there are still empty seats. The Panthers currently rank 25th of the 30 NHL teams in tickets distributed per game. Overall NHL attendance however is up 2 % over last season.

So for the Panthers’ fan who has been avoiding a game this year, or still waiting for a good time to go see their first, keep your eyes open because the team is rolling out the deals. The Panthers are working on a “First Timer” program in which fans who have never attended a Panther game can sign up for a FREE pair of tickets to a game. There are catches with this one, obviously the honor system is necessary on this one. The Panthers are allowing a maximum of 500 people to take advantage of this deal per game, they must present a valid Florida drivers license, and must sign up on floridapanthers.com first.

The Panthers are also experimenting with “Total Ticket” packages that include a game ticket, parking, gas card, and a meal all in one. The lowest price for one of these packages is $17. In addition, the Panthers have decided to cancel plans to charge an additional $25 fee on tickets to marquee games.

As proof the Panthers are not immune to economic hardships, several support staff employees have been laid off already this season and the team is no longer matching employee contributions to 401(K) programs. Times are tough for everyone, and sports franchises are no exception. Sometimes however, bad things have a way of benefiting the fan, especially in a region where franchises can’t afford to alienate the fans and still expect to prosper.

The Florida Panthers’ recent run of success is due in part to their strong play on special teams lately. The Panthers have been very successful in the past five games at taking advantage of power play situations and shutting down their opponents on the penalty kill.

With the exception of Saturday’s game against Atlanta, the Panthers had scored at least 1 power play goal per game during their current streak. Over their last 5 games (in which the team is 4-0-1) the Panthers are averaging 1 power play goal per game.

Not only are the Panthers effective in man advantage situations lately, they are playing strong, solid defense when they are down a man as well. During the past 5 games the Panthers have faced 17 penalty kill situations and allowed only 2 goals. The Florida penalty kill is ranked 9th in the NHL with an 83% success rate.

If the Panthers wish to continue playing solid hockey, they will need to continue their performance on both the power play and penalty kill. Both situations provide a team with great opportunities to win games and turn momentum. If Florida can keep clicking on the power play and shutting down opponents when they are at a disadvantage, watch for the Panthers to keep playing tough hockey and picking up wins.

This afternoon the Florida Panthers used offensive explosions in the 1st and 3rd periods of their game against Atlanta to bury the Thrashers 8-4, picking up their 3rd straight victory in the process. Today’s win makes the Panthers 4-0-1 in their last 5 games, further evidence that the Panthers may have broken completely out of the holiday rut they found themselves in late in December.

Florida was outshot in the 1st period by Atlanta, but finished the period strong, leading 3-1 by the end of the 1st period. Michael Frolik scored at 9:50 on a penalty shot to put Florida up 1-0, but Atlanta would answer 3 minutes later to tie it at 1-1. The Panthers scored 2 goals in the final 1:36 of the period however to go up 3-1. Jay Bouwmeester scored at 18:24 and Radek Dvorak scored shorthanded at 19:49 to finish off the period.

Florida’s effort in the 1st was not duplicated in the 2nd as Atlanta dominated the game, scoring on the power play early in the period and scoring late to finish the 2nd period tied 3-3. Florida would not let themselves lose this game however, dominating the 3rd period in rare fashion.

The Panthers got two goals in the first 3 minutes of the 3rd period, 1:08 apart to retake the lead at 5-3. Ville Peltonen got his first of two in the game at 1:34 and Cory Stillman scored at 2:42. David Booth scored his team leading 18th goal at 7:05, followed 5 minutes later by Peltonen’s 2nd of the game to put Florida ahead 7-3. Atlanta would get themselves a consolation goal at 13:25, but Florida would add another just 1:31 later when Nathan Horton scored to cap an 8-4 victory for the Panthers.

Unlike the last week of December, first week of January when the Panthers could seem to do no right, they are clicking on all cylinders currently. Tomas Vokoun made 28 saves today and was impressive despite allowing the 4 goals. More importantly, the Panthers’ offense is absolutely ON FIRE as the team has scored 27 goals in the last 5 games. To a certain extent, their offensive might at the moment covers up their less than stellar (though effective for now) defensive play as of late. Another good sign for the Panthers is the continued contribution of multiple players on the team. Michael Frolik, Jay Bouwmeester, and David Booth have been on good scoring streaks lately. Booth’s goal tonight extended his point streak to 8 games.

The Florida Panthers used a 3 goal 3rd period on Thursday night to defeat the Carolina Hurricanes and pick up their 2nd straight win. Tomas Vokoun made 31 saves to keep his team in the game until the offense awoke in the 3rd period to break a tie and deliver victory for the Panthers.

Late in the 1st period Florida would strike first with David Booth scoring his team leading 17th goal of the season to put the Panthers up 1-0. 3:35 later the Hurricanes would strike back to tie the game at 1-1. the 2nd period would be dominated by the Panthers, but no one found the back of the net and the game headed to the 3rd tied at 1-1.

The Panthers offense would arrive in the 3rd period, just in time to break the 1-1 tie. All Star Jay Bouwmeester scored 31 seconds into the 3rd to put Florida ahead 2-1. Nathan Horton would score less than 3 minutes later to extend Florida’s lead to 3-1. The Panthers appeared to be on their way to a comfortable victory until Carolina scored to make it 3-2 with just under 5 minutes to go. Gregory Campbell would put the Hurricanes away for good with an empty net goal with 36 seconds left to give Florida the 4-2 victory.

Last night’s win breaks Florida’s recent trend of win-loss-win-loss. More importantly than breaking that trend, the team put together back to back games of solid effort, something that was key to their great play in early December, and a factor that has been lacking in the two weeks since that fantastic run. Hopefully they can build on this momentum over the weekend.