Florida Goaltending, Ales Kotalik, and Mild Tropical Storms

While watching the New Jersey Devils and Buffalo Sabres games tonight on TSN a few things stood out.

First off was a discussion on how Craig Anderson made his first NHL start tonight with the Florida Panthers. There seemed to be several surprised members of the TSN team that were curious of why Anderson and not Belfour made the start tonight. The Panthers are essentially eliminated for the playoffs. Why wouldn't the give one of their kids a chance? Ed Belfour is ancient and has started 27 games in a row before tonights action. During that time period The Eagle proved to everyone he can still play. Since the Panthers don't have any other goaltender waiting in the wings, maybe they are giving Eddie some rest since chances are they are going to lean on him next year too.

Secondly, Ales Kotalik return to the Sabres lineup tonight after missing 16 games with a knee injury. Kotalik is a very underrated player. He was all over the ice tonight, and showed no signs of wear from his absence. While his numbers don't show it, Kotalik is a key component to the Sabres roster. He logs time on the Power Play and takes part in the majority of the Sabres shoot outs. If given a chance to play on the top two lines in the future he's a player who has great potential to produce.

Lastly, Carolina can all but kiss their chance at a repeat good-bye after tonights loss against Philadelphia. To get blown out by a team that has won only eight games at home this year when you are fighting for a playoff spot just isn't acceptable. For a roster with most of it's key components from it's cup victory remaining performances like tonight are very disappointing. This team doesn't deserve a chance at the cup this year.