CBS News Miami's Steve Goldstein: Florida Panthers gear up for playoffs, division title in sight
SUNRISE - With their playoff spot assured for a while now, the Florida Panthers have played some uneven hockey over the last month. But a closer look, including Thursday's vintage Panther-like 6-0 win in Ottawa, shows a team that is pacing itself for the grind of a Stanley Cup run.
For the most part, even during this 3-7-1 stretch, the Panthers have played to their identity and had solid games against top teams like the Boston Bruins and New York Rangers. The 6-0 win in Ottawa was a return to form both on the ice and the scoreboard.
The style and team system are demanding physically and mentally, and it's unrealistic to play it to its peak level for 82 games. The Panthers at their core play a playoff style all season, a heavy team, with a tenacious forecheck and hard gap defense. They are confident they will be at peak performance in all areas for game one of the playoffs.
Boston Matinee
Saturday's showdown against the first place Bruins will go a long way toward deciding the Atlantic division title. Boston has a four point lead on the Panthers with five games remaining. A loss and the Bruins will realistically win the division. A Panthers win puts them two points behind, and Florida owns the tiebreaker, which is regulation wins.
First or Second
Besides the honor of a division championship, the difference between first and second place probably doesn't really matter. It's very likely that the Panthers will play Toronto or Tampa Bay in the first round regardless of where they finish, with the lean towards Toronto. Tampa Bay is hot and on the Maple Leafs' heals for third place in the division. Those teams could flip flop places, meaning winning the division could draw either opponent. The Panthers would like to finish in one of the top two spots, which ensures home ice advantage in the first round. But as we learned during last year's playoff run and this season with a league leading 26 road wins, the Panthers are very comfortable playing on the road.
Get Healthy
Aaron Ekblad and Carter Verhaeghe are both out with injuries until the playoffs. Game one, against whoever, wherever, is in two weeks. The team is optimistic they will be ready. In the meantime, defenseman Josh Mahura gets playing time and coach Paul Maurice gets a look at some different lines.
Without Verhaeghe, a top six left winger, Maurice is going with Vladimir Tarasenko and Nick Cousins at left wing on the top two lines. Cousins played in that spot on Sam Bennett's line in last year's playoffs and the trio had a solid game in Ottawa with all three posting multi-point games. Tarasenko has been a good playoff player in his career and appears to fit with Aleksander Barkov and Sam Reinhart right now. But Verhaeghe will take one of those spots when he returns. He has been an excellent playoff player, scoring some of the biggest goals in the Panthers' history in the last few years in the playoffs. If fully healthy the winger depth gives the Panthers multiple options and Maurice an advantage with matchups, depending upon who the opponent is.
Going for 60
Sam Reinhart has a shot at the Panthers' single-season goal record. For more than two decades it appeared Pavel Bure's 59-goal mark wouldn't be approached. To put it in perspective, there was no such thing as the iPhone when Bure scored 59. It's been a while. Then, along came Sam Reinhart. He sits at 53 goals with 15 periods of hockey remaining. One big game, a two or three-goal effort, will put Reinhart on the 60-goal watch. With the playoffs assured, Reinhart's run for the record will be fun to watch the last ten days of the season.
