Florida steals one, Atlanta can't shoot.

I just got done watching the game between Montréal and Florida.
WOW!!!

Florida played pretty poorly for 58 minutes, but somehow emerged from the Bell Centre with two points. With seven minutes to go, the Panthers had only registered 15 shots on goal, and it looked like Cristobal Huet was on his way to a shutout.
Mike Komaserik was called for slashing with about two and a half to play, and the Panthers suddenly snapped to attention. They were able to mount some serious pressure on Huet, especially after Vokoun was pulled for the extra attacker. During the furious six-on-four sequence, Huet was forced to make a couple of great stops. The Habs killed the penalty, but just two seconds after the expiration, Nathan Horton got one past Huet to tie the game with 10.2 seconds remaining in the third.

Florida had been outplayed for the entire game, and really only played well for the last 90 seconds, but somehow that was good enough to get them one.

Nothing happened in the overtime, and the frustrated home crowd watched as it went to shootout. Montréal opted to shoot first. All three of their skaters went low on Vokoun, and he easily made all three stops. Florida's first two skaters were stopped, but Jozef Stumpel scored, and the game was over.

This was a great example of why you shouldn't give up on a game. The Cats stank all game, and they seemed down for the count, but they fought their way into the extra frame and ended up "stealing" two points away from les Habs. Although the Canadiens didn't leave the rink empty handed, they can't be happy about pissing away one point.

One standings point may seem petty at this point in the season, but the Maple Leafs missed the playoffs by one point last year. The Avalanche suffered the same fate. I don't mean to be overdramatic, but if the Canadiens just barely miss the playoffs, they can look at this game. They can look at 10.2 seconds.

In other news, the Thrashers got smoked by Philly, and they remain the only winless team. It's a sad commentary when the pathetic NFL Atlanta Falcons aren't the worst team in town. Sure, they've run up against some good teams, but they've only scored nine goals through their first six games. Five of those goals came in one game. Including last season's playoffs and excluding this year's exhibition games the Thrash have lost 10 games in a row. They've scored a total of 15 goals in those 10 games and have surrendered 44. Ouch. They'll get on track eventually, perhaps.

Jennifer over at SESO has been lamenting the fact that the Thrash just aren't shooting the puck. Tonight, they were outshot 33-31, which brings their cumulative total to 206 shots for the opponents to 141 for the Thrash. Their average is 23.5 SOG per game whilst facing 34.3 from their opponents.

The Canes are in the middle of five days in a row off. What else is there for me to do?