GDT: ECQF Game 4 | 4/19/12 | 7pm EDT | Panthers VS Devils | TV: NHLNet, FSNF, TSN2, MSG+

[Panthers Rock]

Tonight, your Southeast Division Champion Florida Panthers take on the New Jersey Devils in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals! Game time at 7:00 EST live from Prudential Center!



Never Give Up, Never Surrender

Watch And Listen TV: Live on NHL Network, TSN2, FSN Florida and MSG+. Internet/Radio: Listen Live on NHL Gamecenter 560 WQAM, South Florida's Sports Leader

VS

ECQF Series Panthers Lead Series 2-1

Injuries New Jersey: Player Date Of Incident Status Injury Henrik Tallinder 2012-01-17 on injured reserve and is out indefinitely blood clot in left leg Jacob Josefson 2012-04-04 expected to miss 4-6 weeks broken left wrist Florida: Player Date Of Incident Status Injury Matt Bradley 2012-02-20 on injured reserve and is out indefinitely upper body Jack Skille 2012-03-10 expected to miss the remainder of the season shoulder surgery

Line Combinations (Subject To Change) New Jersey: LW C RW Zach Parise Travis Zajac Ilya Kovalchuk Petr Sykora Patrik Elias Dainius Zubrus Alexei Ponikarovsky Adam Henrique David Clarkson Ryan Carter Stephen Gionta Steve Bernier LD RD Bryce Salvador Marek Zidlicky Andy Greene Mark Fayne Anton Volchenkov Peter Harrold Florida: LW C RW Tomas Fleischmann Stephen Weiss Kris Versteeg Sean Bergenheim Marcel Goc Mikael Samuelsson Jerred Smithson Shawn Matthias Scottie Upshall Marco Sturm John Madden Tomas Kopecky LD RD Jason Garrison Brian Campbell Dmitry Kulikov Mike Weaver Ed Jovanovski Erik Gudbranson

Expected Starting Goaltenders (Subject To Change) with Playoff Stats New Jersey: Martin Brodeur GP W L GAA SV% SO 3 1 1 3.40 .869 0 VS. Florida: Scott Clemmensen GP W L GAA SV% SO 1 1 0 0.00 1.000 0

Team Leaders New Jersey: Category Player Amount Goals Patrik Elias 2 Assists David Clarkson 2 Points Patrik Elias/Dainius Zubrus/Ilya Kovalchuk/David Clarkson/Zach Parise 2 +/- Bryce Salvador +4 PIM Patrik Elias 4 Wins Martin Brodeur 1 GAA Johan Hedberg 1.67 SV% Johan Hedberg 9.29 Shutouts Martin Brodeur/Johan Hedberg 0 Florida: Category Player Amount Goals Stephen Weiss/Sean Bergenheim 2 Assists Mikael Samuelsson 4 Points Mikael Samuelsson/Sean Bergenheim 4 +/- Mike Weaver/Tomas Fleischmann/Kris Versteeg +1 PIM Sean Bergenheim/Wojtek Wolski/Kris Versteeg/Shawn Matthias 4 Wins Jose Theodore/Scott Clemmensen 1 GAA Scott Clemmensen 0.00 SV% Scott Clemmensen 1.000 Shutouts Jose Theodore/Scott Clemmensen 0

The Story So Far Through 3 games in the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals, the Florida Panthers have suddenly taken a 2-1 series lead over the New Jersey Devils as it will go to at least 5 games. The Devils opened the series with a 3 goal 1st period outburst that broke the record for most shots allowed in a playoff game period by the Panthers. The Panthers responded in the 2nd with a 2 goal comeback attempt but fell short in a lifeless 3rd. In Game 2, the Panthers, still at home, came out early by scoring the fastest goal in Panthers playoff history, and the fastest playoff powerplay goal since 1987. From there, the Cats built a 3-0 lead, only to watch it also shrink to 3-2 in the 3rd. Somehow, they held on to win their first playoff game since 1997. In Game 3, the Devils roared to another commanding 3-0 lead, but coach Kevin Dineen helped stop the bloodshed by replacing Jose Theodore with Scott Clemmensen, Brodeur's former backup. Then the powerplays started and so did the Panthers. 3 powerplay chances were given to them and all 3 were capitalized on, exposing the Devils' PK and Brodeur in the process, chasing him from net. Even Mike Weaver got himself his first goal in over a year even strength. The battle between Hedberg and Clem raged on, but the Panthers found themselves victorious. Tonight in Game 4, the Panthers have a chance to really start to put a dagger in the series, with a shot at taking a commanding 3-1 series lead.

News And Notes George Richards' Blog of the Miami Herald:Your Source For Reliable, Early Panthers Info! http://therattrick.com/ http://www.sun-sentinel.com/sports/florida-panthers/ http://www.miamiherald.com/sports/hockey/

Primary Target Ilya Kovalchuk, once the great goalscorer for a doomed Atlanta Thrashers franchise, he made his way up to New Jersey where he also tried to improve his defensive game. The balance has helped, but he's also been caught cheating on penalty kills. While he's been contributing offensively, he'll have to do more to stave off going down 3-1 in the series.

Red Hot Cat Of The Night Sean Bergenheim has 2 points in his last 2 games, 4 points overall in these 3 playoff games so far.

Tonight, Game 4...

LET'S GO PANTHERS!!!!!!!!!!

[canucks22]

Awesome game thread! What a comeback last night...let's go Cats, make it 3 in a row

[SoupyFIN]

A random thing that popped to my head, Bergy is the first player to make the playoffs with both Florida teams on consecutive years- yes, no?

[JPG]

hey i put the never give up never surrender comment on the game 3 thread when we scored our first goal

[KWGoon]

Originally Posted by SoupyFIN

A random thing that popped to my head, Bergy is the first player to make the playoffs with both Florida teams on consecutive years- yes, no?

No idea, Chris Gratton didn't do it for sure (or maybe he's one of those who on consecutive seasons DIDN'T make the playoffs in either...)

What a great stat though. It's the kind baseball keeps. Hockey stats are low on finesse factor.

[JPG]

man, I think the top NJ forwards are really good but when they get behind PDB uses them like a madman. As far as coaching goes I hope we score one early, because then he's going to go nuts and overplay them and tire them out.

[JPG]

Also, kind of interesting to me, Huberdeau has been posting on twitter that he's watching all of our playoff games. Makes me happy to know he's genuinely excited about being a Panther.

[freakstar]

Yeah I noticed that aswell, it seemed like the only line that was out was NJD first line lol.

Another long night tomorrow, let's hope it'll be worth it.

[adam graves]

Originally Posted by canucks22

Awesome game thread! What a comeback last night...let's go Cats, make it 3 in a row

Thx!

How's our friend David doing in his first playoff games???

[jglenn001]

Galaxy Quest! Love that movie.. Great GDT. LETS GO CATS!!

[adam graves]

Ps 241 writes

jets fan coming in peace. I said it when you won the division that your team deserved it based on the consistant play from the beginning of the year. congrats on the gutzy comeback win....Panthers have a similar GDT vibe as the Jets....get down big and watch the board melt down the cue the comeback and watch the fans go through epic mood swing. as I have said on many occasions I think HFBoards are missing the boat by not having GDT's sponsored by a big Pharma company with an effective mood stabilizing drug (only half joking).....




Thx for the good wishes we have a number of jet fans bandwagoning feel free to join us.

[FlaPnthrsPunk]

This would be huge to get a win in this game and go back home to have a chance of winning the series. I just don't like the horrible starts as we had in Games 1 and 3. I also never feel safe even with a large lead as in Game 2, the Devils almost came back. We just need a 60 minute effort and not play period by period.

[angry_treefrog]

Love the GDT PR, but you have to give Bergenheim some love -

He has two goals to match Weiss & 4 points to match Samuelsson.

You should also create a "stupid penalty" category and list him there too.

[Lola]

Still catching up on my reading from our glorious victory last night!

Major props for the Skillet video! My favorite band!!!

[Panthers Rock]

Originally Posted by angry_treefrog

Love the GDT PR, but you have to give Bergenheim some love -

He has two goals to match Weiss & 4 points to match Samuelsson.

You should also create a "stupid penalty" category and list him there too.

Done, except for the last part

[Jeff Shafer]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ftUR6AFTNMA

Can someone post this as a video I thought it'd be funny lol.

[RainingRats]

Smithson looked good. I forgot about him. He's physical and reliable. You know what you're going to get with him. Whereas Wolski is a dice roll.

[CatscratchFever]

Driving home from work today, many of the usual random thoughts shuffled though my mind, when this one made me stop and contemplate. The Panthers need 2 wins out of 4 games to advance. That rocks! LGP!

[gizmo12688]

Gonna watch this game at Duffy's. Need to be surrounded by some fans

[BoneThugsNHarmony]

Man.....

I'm taking students to the Arsht Center to see Romeo and Juliet: The Opera. Will completely miss this game.

Can't bail on my kids.

LGP!

[TimHortons]

Going to be in attendance and supporting our Cats. Hopefully they can pull out another win in Jersey. Anyone else going to be there? RR?

[Beezer]

Puck possession is going to be key tonight!!!!

[Luis Gudbrunson]

Originally Posted by Beezer

Puck possession is going to be key tonight!!!!

Maybe we need a new set of avatars? Something like the Penguins' "Shirt Off".

Face... Off... Playoffs!
"It's the Playoffs. Win the face-off!"

[Booootthh]

Pete uses Kovalchuk like mad. Much much more than he does anybody else it seems. Trying to get their moneys worth on that contract haha.

[angry_treefrog]

Originally Posted by Booootthh

Pete uses Kovalchuk like mad. Much much more than he does anybody else it seems. Trying to get their moneys worth on that contract haha.

I hope he keeps doing it. An exhausted Kovalchuk is less dangerous.