One year later, it’s the Panthers

The Florida Panthers are in town on the first Thursday of December, just like last season, oddly enough. It’s been 364 days since the Kings saw the Panthers, and it’s a new-look team, and one that is doing quite well for itself. Rebuilt under general manager Dale Tallon, the Panthers lead the Southeast Division with a 13-7-4 record. The Panthers have been getting solid goaltending from Jose Theodore and good scoring from their blue line (more on that later) and are 4-1-1 in their last six games.

Terry Murray coached the Panthers from 1998-2000. In fact, three of the 11 men who have coached the Panthers have also coached the Kings. Bonus points for naming the other two…

MURRAY: “You’ve got to make sure you’re ready to go in a game against a team like Florida, when you only see them once every couple of years. You look at the standings and you seem them doing well. Their scoring is basically one line, with Weiss in the middle, and right now they’re kind of sneaking around the league and surprising some teams. So it’s important that we come and play our game. That’s the most important thing, and have some idea of what it is that they’re doing, so that we’re ready to roll.’’

The Panthers definitely have a line to watch. The first line of Tomas Fleischmann, Stephen Weiss and Kris Versteeg has combined for 31 goals. The other nine forwards that the Panthers are expected to dress tonight have combined for 18 goals.

MURRAY: “I think it’s coming together very nice for them. Weiss is a very good player. He’s a high draft pick, and the book on him was that he was going to become a premier center iceman, a puck-possession player who could make plays. You’ve got Fleischmann on the wing, who is coming back off of a serious condition last year in Colorado, and he’s having a real turnaround season. Versteeg on the right side, he’s lighting it up on the offensive part of it, and that’s what he is supposed to do, that’s his m.o. So they’re really getting going right now. They’ve got a lot of chemistry and a lot of confidence.’’