Florida Panthers: Five games that will be worth admission
This period of the season can make or break the Florida Panthers’ hopes of postseason. The wild card race is heating up, the two spots are currently controlled by the New York Rangers (53 points), and the Pittsburgh Penguins (50 points). The Panthers sit on 42 points with 40 games to play, 22 of these games are on home ice.
The fans of South Florida demand winning, and when that isn’t happening, the fans don’t come to home games. Unfortunately, this is an issue that the Florida Panthers as a team, and as a business, have struggled with.
This needs to change if the Panthers want to return to the playoffs, so here are some games that the Panthers need their support in the second half of this season.
#1 January 19th: Vegas Golden Knights
After this one-week break ends, the Panthers will host the Vegas Golden Knights for the first time in history. This isn’t the expansion team we thought it would be, this is an expansion team that exploded out of the gates, and despite no clear star, five different goalies, and Vadim Shipachyov heading back to Russia, hasn’t looked back.
The Knights lead the Western Conference with 60 points and legitimately labelled themselves as a Stanley Cup contender. Not only will this be a difficult test for the Panthers, but three former Cats will return to the BB&T Center for the first time: forwards Jonathan Marchessault, Reilly Smith, and former head coach, Gerard Gallant. This will be an emotional game for sure, and with the week off, the team should be prepared to take on one of the league’s best.
#2 February 24th: Pittsburgh Penguins
The Penguins may have sputtered all season, weighed down by expectations of a three-peat, but hopes of playoffs aren’t out of their reach. Like the Panthers, the Pens are massively playing down to expectation with their star-studded roster. This doesn’t mean they should be taken lightly; Evgeni Malkin, Phil Kessel, Kris Letang, and Sidney Crosby are all forces of nature in the NHL.
If the Cats and Pens can pick up their form over the next month, with some help along the way, this game could be a game that could mean serious playoff implications for both sides. The center matchup of all-stars Aleksander Barkov and Crosby also will be very intriguing for all fans to enjoy.
#3 March 2nd: New Jersey Devils
At the beginning of the season, I never would have expected Devils-Panthers to be a meaningful game in March. In one of the shocks of the season, the Devils are where every team wants to be: young and winning. John Hynes has done very well at meshing this below-average looking squad into a contender for hockey’s toughest-looking division on paper. Even more surprising, it’s not even because 1st overall pick Nico Hischier is carrying them like Connor McDavid or Jack Eichel have done for their respective franchises.
This is a group of players who play for the each other. Taylor Hall has been an astounding pickup since 2015, with 45 points this season, he could be considered one of the NHL’s elite talents. The depth of the team is incredible, a true mosh pit of prospects like Jesper Bratt, Miles Wood, and Pavel Zacha, overlooked players like Brian Gibbons, Brian Boyle, and the veteran presence of Travis Zajac.
The defense is complemented with new Devil, Sami Vatanen, as well as versatile two-way players like Damon Seversson, John Moore, and Will Butcher, a defenseman who can quarterback a power play and get forward in short-handed situations. Corey Schneider has had less work to do in net, but don’t let that take away from his brilliance, which is still one of the league’s best.
The Panthers certainly can-and arguably should-be at the Devils’ pace, however signs of a slump out of those top three have shown lately for the Devs. This could be a wild card 4 pointer, but it will definitely be an intense affair between well-matched teams.
#4 March 10th: New York Rangers
NYR currently are in a slump, but are looking to bounce back soon, hopefully before the March 10th meeting. Chris Kreider will likely still be out for this game, but the Manhattan hockey club still boast young centers like Kevin Hayes and Mika Zibanejad, breakout duo J.T. Miller and Pavel Buchnevich, and former Panther killers Mats Zuccarello, Kevin Shattenkirk, and Henrik Lundqvist.
The season series stands at 1-0-1 for the Cats, both results with a final score of 5-4. Between two teams with 18 goals against each other this season in contention for wild card birth, this one should have BB&T rocking.
#5 April 5th: Boston Bruins
No matter how close or how far the Panthers will be from a playoff spot, rivalries against Boston are always fun to be in attendance for. The Bruins have surged since December behind the red-hot glove of Tuukka Rask.
Boston boast big name forwards like Patrice Bergeron, David Pasternak, David Krejci, David Backes, Danton Heinen, and Brad Marchand, who is still on pace to rival his 85 point tally from last season. Charlie McAvoy and Zdeno Chara are still the leaders of a mediocre defense playing over its head, but whether it slows down is another question.
The Bruins-Panthers rivalry definitely follows the rivalry of Patriots-Dolphins in South Florida, so a win in this game at the end of the season could propel the Panthers to post season. Besides, who doesn’t love a few Thursday night fights?