What a 48 hours we have ahead of us, folks! Rest up tonight, because the Panthers have back-to-back games this weekend: Saturday afternoon against Nashville to wrap-up their current homestand, and Sunday afternoon on the road against Tampa Bay. With each passing day and game, and as we get deeper into the playoff races in the Central Division and across the league, that playoff feel is going to increase.
Saturday is a big chance for the Panthers to bounce back against Nashville, and I'm expecting Sunday's game in Tampa to have a unique electricity to it. Following last night's home loss to Nashville, Panthers Head Coach Joel Quenneville said, "The games are going to get harder. Every night, you need everybody pushing and every shift becomes more magnified in its importance."
The intensity will be off the charts as the season progresses. Buckle up!
Doug Plagens' Panthers Mailbag Volume Six
Now, your questions!
@fakejedega: @DougPlagens My 8 year-old son Jackson wants to know is your job fun and my question is do you remember the first goal you called when you started doing Panthers play-by-play?
To answer Jackson's question, yes! Being the play-by-play announcer for the Panthers is every bit the dream-come-true that I hoped it would be, and it's an opportunity I'm thankful for every day! Getting to the NHL as a broadcaster took a lot of work, came with a great deal of uncertainty, and it's a somewhat unpredictable field and industry that can take a lot of patience, but I wouldn't trade any of the experiences I've had with the Panthers, or any of the experiences that I had leading up to my time with the Panthers. When I was in the AHL, I remember sitting on the bus back to Cleveland at 3:00 AM after a game, at the end of a long road trip, in the dead of winter thinking, "There's nothing else I'd rather be doing."
My first goal that I called would have been opening night, 2015-16. We had a preseason broadcast before that game, but I start counting the games at the start of the regular season! The Panthers hosted the Philadelphia Flyers on October 10, 2015 to start the season, and it was a runaway 7-1 win for the Panthers at the BB&T Center. Vincent Trocheck opened the scoring 1:23 into the game, with assists from Jussi Jokinen and Willie Mitchell, and that was the first goal I called in the NHL!
@MorleyThePilot: #DearDoug Whats been the biggest factor to what appears to be great chemistry between everyone on the team? It seems Q can send any player out on any line and they seem to gel like its their 100th game on the line.
I've thought the same thing, Daniel! I think a number of factors come into play here. First of all, GM Bill Zito and his staff deserve a ton of credit for identifying players that fit well with one another, and that fit well with core players that were already in place. Joel Quenneville is showing another example of why he's one of the best coaches of all-time as he has put players, many of whom are still new to playing together, in positions to succeed. On top of that, Joel Quenneville's system really has taken hold with the group, and every player is on the same page, which is building chemistry.
Additionally - and some would say this is the biggest part of the equation - the Panthers are winning much more often than not, and as a result, having fun. Joel Quenneville has made mention of the fact that the team is having fun, and the more they win, the more fun they'll have. On Territory Talk a couple weeks ago, Jameson Olive and I asked Mackenzie Weegar about the team banding together this season. He said, "The guys that Bill Zito brought in… everyone is just a great guy. It feels like we've been playing together for a few years, which is a great feeling. Everyone is just comfortable around each other. I think that's a big key to starting off strong [this season] and for the years to come."
Several different factors have come into play, but it all boils down to great personnel decisions, savvy coaching decisions, solid leadership, and winning!
@kSelvig9: You think the top 3 teams in the league standings being from the same division means those 3 teams are actually that good or the rest of that division is that bad?
The Panthers, Lightning, and Hurricanes are indeed that good.
Obviously the league standings will flip-flop a lot during the season, but through half a season, the Panthers, Lightning, and Hurricanes- all from the Central Division- are all near the top of the league. Because of this, and a few other factors, it shows me that the Central Division is a very good division. The Lightning are the defending Cup Champs, and figure to have Nikita Kucherov back for the playoffs. This Panthers team is the real deal, and Carolina has been knocking on the door for a couple seasons. After the top three teams, Chicago has made a surprise bid at a top-four spot, Dallas (a Stanley Cup Finalist last season) and Columbus (a playoff team from last season) are still in the mix, and Nashville and Detroit have proven to be tough outs every night. That's a really good division.
Top, middle, and bottom tiers have formed in each division, and this was undoubtedly going to happen for a number of reasons. First of all, every game is being played within the division; inevitably the top-tier teams would rise to the top. In the case of the Central, a top-tier of the Panthers, Lightning, and Hurricanes has formed, and in watching the Central Division, the eye test and their records say they really are the three best teams. Furthermore, the travel schedules are, for the most part, much more orderly than we've seen in conventional 82-game seasons. Teams are playing each other two and three straight games, often times having the same amount of rest. There's no cross-country travel, and the Panthers don't venture west of the Central Time Zone. With no upper hands schedule-wise, everything is being decided on the ice.
Seeing teams this often means there aren't secrets when the teams play; everyone knows the book on everyone else, every team has endless tape on everyone else, and each team is familiar with the opponents' personnel, goalies, special teams, tendencies, etc. It's months in the future, but it'll be very interesting when the final four begins, and teams are playing opponents from outside their respective divisions for the first time this season. Normally there are at least a couple regular season games to use as a reference point, but this season, there will be teams meeting for the first time this season with a finals berth on the line.
@yodiwan1: Traveling all over the country, you've had your share of fast food from places not located in Florida. What are your top 3 and if you could add one to the BB&T center which would it be?
Wow, my top three! Well, I'll have to rank In-N-Out Burger number one. It's the best food on Earth, after all. In second, I'd choose Café Rio. There is one Florida location- it's in the Orlando area- but that's out of our area, so I'm going to request that it be allowed in the top three! It's a quick-serve Mexican restaurant, and they have the best tortillas I've ever eaten. Café Rio is a go-to stop for me in Denver and Las Vegas.
In third, I'm going to throw out one of my favorite places to get a Montreal Smoked Meat Sandwich: Dunn's! It's a 24-hour diner-ish deli establishment, and they have locations in Montreal, Ottawa, and Vancouver that I visit each time through town! A Montreal Smoked Meat sandwich is very similar to a pastrami sandwich, and it's outstanding. They have great fries, too.
It may not be the best thing for me, but if we had In-N-Out Burger inside the BB&T Center, I'd probably eat it before every game!
Thanks everyone for the great questions! If you didn't see yours this week, it may appear in a later edition.
