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Florida Panthers: Tough road ahead against the West

By Luke Kendall

COLUMBUS, OH - JANUARY 07: Florida Panthers center Aleksander Barkov (16) celebrates with teammates after scoring a goal in a game between the Columbus Blue Jackets and the Florida Panthers on January 07, 2018 at Nationwide Arena in Columbus, OH. Blue Jackets defeated the Panthers 3-2 in a shootout. (Photo by Adam Lacy/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
COLUMBUS, OH - JANUARY 07: Florida Panthers center Aleksander Barkov (16) celebrates with teammates after scoring a goal in a game between the Columbus Blue Jackets and the Florida Panthers on January 07, 2018 at Nationwide Arena in Columbus, OH. Blue Jackets defeated the Panthers 3-2 in a shootout. (Photo by Adam Lacy/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) /
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After coming up victorious in St. Louis last night, the Florida Panthers need another win streak to materialize. However, a difficult stretch of games stand in their way.

ST. LOUIS, MO – JANUARY 9: The Florida Panthers celebrate their victory over the St. Louis Blues at Scottrade Center on January 9, 2018 in St. Louis, Missouri. (Photo by Scott Rovak/NHLI via Getty Images)
ST. LOUIS, MO – JANUARY 9: The Florida Panthers celebrate their victory over the St. Louis Blues at Scottrade Center on January 9, 2018 in St. Louis, Missouri. (Photo by Scott Rovak/NHLI via Getty Images) /

The Florida Panthers pulled off a nice five-game winning steak to close out December. The streak began in Arizona, where the Panthers pulled off three straight goals to come back from a 2-0 deficit.

They rode that momentum back into the BB&T center with home wins against Minnesota, Ottawa, Philadelphia, and Montreal. The key to the streak was goaltender James Reimer. He let in only six goals during the five game streak, and shutout the Senators and Canadiens.

2018, however, has not been kind to Florida. After losses in Minnesota and Detroit, the Cats got their first point in January against the Columbus Blue Jackets on Sunday, but lost their third game in a row (3-2 in SO).

The Panthers managed to snap out of their three-game losing streak, with a 7-4 win against the St. Louis Blues last night. Jonathan Huberdeau, Vincent Trocheck, and Aleksander Barkov all managed to tally three points each in last night’s victory.

The win streak really helped bring the Panthers back into the playoff conversation, but they cannot have any kind of slide if they want to keep up with the other teams in the Atlantic.

Another stretch of points in every game would be helpful, but five consecutive battles against some of the best teams in the Western conference will make such a streak difficult.

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