GAME THREAD: Panthers v Steelers: Sat 22nd Nov

[Al Murrays Hairbrush]

My heart wants a win, to build some momentum & confidence.
My head says, on recent form we could be in for a very long and painful evening with our weakness & lack of Plan B exposed.
I know we're top of the league, but I don't feel confident in the team that looks vulnerable on Defence, struggling to clear the lines compared to previously.
Up front we seem to lack a cutting edge, preferring to over play, looking for the perfect goal.
I'm not saying run & gun, but please, when you've beaten the man shoot the puck.
It's the webcast with Jim Beam on hand to commiserate, or celebrate, what I think would be an unlikely win.

[ginger]

Can't see past Nottingham on this one, but the one thing so far this year that has been consistent, is that every team has been inconsistent.

Given I don't expect a win, we will probably be excellent, get a win and then stink the house out on Sunday and lose to Manchester

[Doom]

Well tonight we should find out if we're genuine title contenders, because I believe Nottingham are more of a threat this year than Cardiff or Belfast.

If we lose in a fairly even game then I'd still retain hope, but if we lose and are outplayed I think the writing will be on the wall.

It will be interesting to see the route Fox goes down if everybody is fit.

Does he strengthen the defence and go with 6 import d or does he go for the extra forward depth and play 4 lines?

If it's 5 import d then I hope it's one of the d who sits out. If it's 6 import d then I'd probably sit Gentile, because he's probably the weakest defensively, although Pu and Heard are hardly troubling the scorers much.

Regards

Doom

[Brian]

Greenfield will play. Mcadam may have a good record but he is played against the weaker teams.. I know most away game commentators often refer to Greener as being the best goalie in the league .
This game will go down to missed chances and ref decisions in my opinion.

[Doom]

Against my better judgement I've got the webcast.

I hope we don't come out slow and find ourselves on the back foot throughout the 1st period.

I'm also worried about our faceoff capabilities.

Regards

Doom

[mark]

End P1

Panthers 0-0 Steelers

Not much in it on the ice.

[Bryan]

Only won a third of face offs. Not surprisingly we seemed on the defensive a lot but SOG virtually equal

[Doom]

The final few minutes brought us back into it, but period edged by Panthers.

I always felt Panthers had more control of the puck in our defensive zone than we did in theirs. Losing so many faceoffs doesn't help, especially the first one on our powerplay which set the tone of that powerplay.

Fox really needs to sort this faceoff issue, because we aren't going to win the 50/50 games winning less than 40% of faceoffs.

Overall not the disaster i was fearing, but I still think Panthers will have too much.

Regards

Doom

[mark]

GOAAAAALLLLLLLL STEELERS

0-1
Stephen Harper
(Tait, Pu)
21:21

[mark]

GOAAAALLLLL STEELERS

0-2
Mitchell Balmas
(Juusola)
26:02