Panthers turn to Schmid, call up Cooper Black for Columbus
Jacob Markstrom gets a night off after tightening up in Buffalo, and Florida isn't taking chances with its net ahead of Columbus.
Florida isn't messing around with Jacob Markstrom's net, and that's the right call even if nobody wants to say the word "injury" out loud. The Panthers called up Cooper Black from Charlotte on Tuesday and are letting Akira Schmid carry the net at Columbus. Give the big guy the day.
A goalie tightening up in October is a lot cheaper than one tightening up in April.
Markstrom left Monday's loss in Buffalo after one period, pulled after the second goal on 11 shots. Paul Maurice called it "standard stuff" and said there's no injury, just something that tightened up. Fine.
But teams don't fly in a backup goalie from the minors for "standard stuff" unless they want real insurance on the bench, not just a name on a cap sheet.
Schmid gets the net on the second half of a back-to-back after allowing three on 21 shots Monday. His numbers (0-1-1, 4.14 GAA, .868 save percentage) aren't exactly screaming confidence.
Black, 25, is a 6-foot-8 tree in Charlotte with a 25-13-4 record, a 2.47 GAA and a .903 save percentage. He's expected to sit as the backup tonight before heading back down after the game. This isn't a Cooper Black audition. It's cover.
Ferda take: this is the fire department showing up before the fire, and that's a smart call out of Sunrise. Florida's already down Barkov and Marchand up front.
The last thing this team needs is Markstrom white-knuckling through a start that doesn't feel right, just to save face in Columbus in the middle of October.
Rest him. Let Schmid find his game against a Blue Jackets team the Panthers have beaten nine of the last ten times. Get the real net back for a week that actually matters.
The lineup math still isn't pretty. Florida is 2-2-2 with five of its first six games on the road, and the power play has been a problem all month. Now the goaltending depth chart runs three deep before the season's second week is even over.
None of that changes tonight. Schmid starts, Black backs up, and Markstrom gets to exhale for a night.
What's next is simple. If Markstrom is full-go for Thursday, this whole thing is a non-story by the weekend. If he's not, Florida's margin for error with Schmid in net against anybody better than Columbus gets thin fast. Watch the morning skate reports the rest of the week before anyone calls this settled.
