Florida Panthers surging towards playoffs: CBS News Miami's Steve Goldstein:
MIAMII -- It looked bleak a week ago.
The Panthers had lost their fourth straight game and were on a season-long losing streak, allowing 21 goals and heading to Toronto to play the tough Maple Leafs.
They also lost goalie Sergei Bobrovsky to illness. And they were being outplayed by Toronto.
Somehow they turned it all around and they haven't lost since, putting themselves in realistic position to reach the post season. The Panthers' fate is in their own hands. Win the final five games in regulation, and they make the playoffs.
Toronto Tirade
Perhaps coincidence, perhaps not. But early on gameday, Matthew Tkachuk's father, former NHL great Keith Tkachuk, went on Toronto radio and called the Panthers soft, amongst other things.
Then, as they were getting dominated by the Leafs that night, coach Paul Maurice went ballistic on the bench. He screamed at his team for about as long as a coach can, in a profanity laced tongue lashing.
The Panthers got great goaltending from Alex Lyon to keep them in the game. Down by a goal, Sam Reinhart tipped in an Aaron Ekblad shot to tie it with a minute left. Brandon Montour scored the overtime winner. Maybe the words fired them up, we will never know. What we do know is the Panthers haven't lost since the public lashings.
Old Cats Return
After the gut check win in Toronto the Panthers played 2 teams way out of the playoff race. They left no doubt, pounding Montreal and Columbus by a combined 12-2 score.
Hats All Around
Matthew Tkachuk scored 3 goals against Montreal and the next game Carter Verhaeghe scored 4 in Columbus. Tkachuk is the 2nd player in team history to reach 100 points in a season(Jonathan Huberdeau is the other). Verhaeghe is the 2nd Panther to score 40 goals in a season, joining Pavel Bure who scored 59 and 58 goals in seperate seasons.
Verhaeghe also is the 3rd player to register a 4 goal game.
Lyon King
Stories like this happen in sports.
An unknown comes out of nowhere to take the spotlight and shine. The 30-year-old Lyon had played 24 games in his NHL career before this season.
Signed to be the AHL starter and 3rd goalie if needed, he's been forced into action on 2 different stints. Lyon has posted a 6-3-1 record and last game registered his first shutout.
The team has played tight defensive hockey in front of Lyon while blasting songs from the move "The Lion King" in the locker room after games.
It will be interesting to see how the goalie rotation unfolds in the season's final five games with Lyon on a three-game winning streak.
Of course, much depends on Bobrovsky's health.
He us sick and it is still unknown when he will return. Sam Bennett has an undisclosed injury and like Bobrovsky, his return is unknown.
