The Florida Panthers lone representative at the 2009 NHL All Star game will be defenseman Jay Bouwmeester. This is the 2nd All Star selection for Bouwmeester who is one of the NHL’s premier talents and is particularly valuable as a two way defensive player.

Bouwmeester leads Panthers’ defensmen in points, and is 3rd on the team, with 21pts through 6 goals and 15 assists. Bouwmeester ranks 3rd in the NHL in average on ice time at 27:38/game. The selection of Bouwmeester saves the Panthers from being one of a few teams with NO All Star representation, and if you asked any of the Florida players they would tell you Bouwmeester is the team’s on ice leader.

Though Bouwmeester doesn’t lead the Panthers in goals, assists, or points, he has been the most reliable performer at his position. The argument might be made that goalie Craig Anderson or forward David Booth might have been worthy of an All Star nod, they aren’t the top performers at their positions when stacked against the talent of the NHL as a whole.

The Florida Panthers continue their quest to right the ship and get back on a winning track, and tonight’s 4-2 win over Toronto will help. Florida defenseman Bryan McCabe picked up an assist in his first trip to Toronto, and 4 different Panther players scored to lead Florida to victory.

The Panthers wasted little time going after victory tonight as they registered 10 shots on goal in the first 5 minutes of the game and 11 shots on goal before Toronto got its first shot on goal. Stephen Weiss struck at 10:16 of the 1st on the power play to put Florida up 1-0. Ville Peltonen would make it 2-0 with a goal at 17:38. The Panthers outshot the Maple Leafs 16-8 in the 1st period.

The 2nd period was a little closer as Florida outshot Toronto 10-7, but only the Panthers would find the net. Michael Frolik scored at 14:18 of the 2nd to extend Florida’s lead to 3-0, providing all the goals Florida would need to win. Toronto would mount a comeback in the 3rd period, though it fell short. Early in the 3rd, at 4:43, Toronto would make it a 3-1 game on the power play. At 10:20 of the 3rd Gregory Campbell made it a 4-1 game, putting Toronto away. Toronto would make it 4-2 less than 2 minutes later, but Tomas Vokoun shut down the Maple Leafs from their on out to secure the win.

Much like the beginning of the season, Florida finds itself on a win-loss stretch at the moment. The Panthers have one night off and then return home to face Carolina and Atlanta over the weekend. Right now the Panthers are keeping their heads above water, their record is still above .500 and they remain 3rd in the division. However, if they can’t find a good stride similar to their play in early December, the Panthers might find themselves with a difficult stretch after the All-Star break trying to make the playoffs.

The Florida Panthers tough stretch continues as they were unable to build any momentum from their big win on Saturday night as they needed a 3rd period comeback on Sunday just to force overtime against the Montreal Canadiens. In the end, the comeback was all for not as the Canadiens would get the victory on the last shot in the shootout, winning 6-5.

Last night’s game was really a tale of different teams showing up in each period. Florida looked poised for victory after a solid 1st period saw them go ahead 2-0 on goals from Brett McLean at 12:57 and David Booth on the power play at 18:09.

The 2nd period would be ALL Montreal though as they would come storming back with 4 goals to take a 4-2 lead. Montreal tied the game within the first 2:30 of the 2nd, scoring 2 goals in 28 seconds. Later in the period Montreal would get 2 more goals in 2:05 to take a 4-2 lead. The Panthers were outshot in the 2nd 19-5.

The 3rd period however would be all Florida again as they fought their way back into the game. Radek Dvorak got Florida back within 1 at 4-3 with a goal just 2:21 into the 3rd period. Montreal wasn’t going to make it easy though tacking on a 5th goal just 1:37 later to take a 5-3 lead. Florida would chip away at that lead however, getting a goal at 9:22 from Jassen Cullimore to get back within 1 at 5-4. Then at 18:22, Radek Dvorak would get his 2nd of the game, tying the score 5-5 with just 1:38 left to go in the game.

The teams would each get 4 shots on goal in overtime, but to no avail. After 5 minutes of back and forth, the game went to a decisive shootout. Neither team was impressive in the shootout. Florida’s 3 attempts went miss, saved, miss. Montreal’s shooters went miss, miss, and goal to win the game on the final shot.

As usual of late, Florida was able to provide goals in support of their cause. Last night they again showed a no quit attitude as they fought back in the 3rd period to eventually earn 1 pt. The problem of goaltending and defense remains however for Florida. Montreal was able to absolutely dominate the 2nd period, and Craig Anderson was less than impressive in goal stopping 40 of 45 shots. In Anderson’s defense, you can’t constantly ask your goalie to face 35, 40, 45 shots a night and come out unscathed. Defense must improve if Florida is going to find their groove again.

The Florida Panthers snapped themselves out of their current funk with an impressive 6-1 victory over the slumping Pittsburgh Penguins Saturday afternoon. The Panthers’ used an effective offense today, scoring 4 goals on their first 10 shots, to send the Penguins to their 4th straight loss.

Florida, despite being outshot 10-5 in the 1st period, got  goals 5 minutes apart from Ville Peltonen (5) and Nathan Horton (9) to finish the 1st period with a 2-0 lead. After being caught off guard 1:37 into the 2nd, Florida would turn up the heat. After allowing Pittsburgh to make it a 2-1 game with that early goal, Florida would use a pair of power play goals 3 minutes apart to stretch their lead and solidify the win. Bryan McCabe scored his 7th of the year at 8:03 on the power play, and Richard Zednik scored his 5th of the season on a power play at 11:24. Horton would strike for the 2nd time in the period at 18:31 to send Florida into the intermission up 5-1.

In the 3rd period Michael Frolik would get on the score sheet with his 7th of the season at 4:14 of the 3rd period to finish the scoring on the day and help pick up the 6-1 win. The Panthers were outshot slightly by Pittsburgh, 30-24, but were effective with their shots on Saturday. The Florida power play was ready to go too, with goals #3 and #4 coming on the power play.

The most positive sign for the Panthers was improved defense. After putting up little to no effort on defense the past few games, the team played much better and held the tough Penguins’ offense to 1 goal. Even better, a Florida goalie finally started and finished a game. Craig Anderson looked good in net as he stopped 29 of the 30 shots he faced.

After a disappointing stretch of games to end the 2008 calendar year, the Panthers got the 2009 calendar year off to a good start with a solid victory on the road. The Panthers now travel north of the border to face Montreal tomorrow and Toronto on Tuesday. The Panthers have played well on the road this season, particularly against the Canadian teams, hopefully they can continue to improve in the coming days.

The Florida Panthers are in the midst of a small New Year’s break, having played their last game Dec 31st and not playing again until Jan 3rd. Hopefully the Panthers can use the change in calendar from 2008 to 2009 to jump start their play and end their current 4 game losing streak (0-3-1).

Florida’s loss on Wednesday night, 4-2 to the New York Islanders, was their 4 straight loss and fans should be slightly concerned. It is bad enough to lose games, one at a time, back to back, or in chunks like the Panthers are at the moment. It is another thing entirely though to look lost doing so. Two major problems are plaguing the Panthers right now: a) poor defense and b) poor goaltending.

In the midst of this 4 game losing streak, the Panthers have so far allowed 18 goals while scoring 11 themselves. The blame, unlike earlier in the season, cannot be pinned on the offense for these losses. The team has scored 3, 4, 2, and 2 goals in the respective losses, but the defense has been non-existent. In the 4 losses the defense has been scattered around and appeared lost while allowing 4, 6, 5, and 4 goals in the respective games.

On top of problems in front of goal, the Panthers have issues in goal right now too. Neither Craig Anderson or Tomas Vokoun has been able (or should I say allowed?) to finish a game during this losing streak. Vokoun was pulled in the 2nd period of Wednesday’s loss to New York after allowing 3 goals on 22 shots.

Coach Peter DeBoer may be making the situation worse with his constant goalie switches. Goalies are odd creatures, often creatures of habit and fond of superstition. Constantly pulling goalies night after night when your team falls behind is not going to spark your team. Used once in awhile, goalie switches can spark a team if a goalie is just playing poorly, but at the rate DeBoer is switching goalies he’s going to send a message of confusion to his team. He is jeopardizing the confidence of both his goalies and telling his players that he isn’t sure which one is right for the job. Goals are not always the fault of the goalies, granted you can’t yank your defenders for poor play, but the goalie can’t always take the blame.

DeBoer should focus more of his energy on getting the 5 guys in front of Vokoun and Anderson to start playing better team defense and containing opponents, and less time waiting for the right moment to yank a goaltender who is under a barrage of shots.