Time to scoreboard watch
In the playoff hunt, Panthers are keeping track
Just because the Florida Panthers beat the Philadelphia Flyers on Sunday afternoon didn’t mean the day was over for the club. There were still three relevant games to track.
By beating the Flyers 4-1, the Panthers temporarily hopped into a playoff position in the Eastern Conference. But then they paid attention to New Jersey’s loss to Vegas, and Carolina’s loss to Winnipeg, and Columbus’ win in San Jose.
The results dropped Florida back out of the playoff picture, but the Panthers are just one point behind the Blue Jackets with three games in hand, and four points behind the Devils with three games in hand.
The ritual may become more familiar for the Panthers, whose jostling for a playoff spot dictates they devote a little attention to the out-of-town scoreboard.
“I haven’t until about four days ago,” Panthers goaltender Roberto Luongo said Sunday. “Now, I’m like scoreboard-watching pretty much every game. It’s hard not to at this time of the year. Every game is so important, and every point everybody gathers is huge.”
Florida is perhaps the hottest team in the league since the All-Star break. The Panthers are 13-3-0 since then, including separate win streaks of four, three and six games. Before this stretch, Florida had only won at least three games in a row once.
With tonight’s game in Tampa, the Panthers are nearing the end of a tough schedule that featured eight out of nine games against current playoff teams. Beginning with Thursday’s home game against Montreal, six of Florida’s next seven games are against teams far out of the playoff hunt.
Panthers defenseman Keith Yandle said the team has accepted the playing style coach Bob Boughner imprinted at the beginning of this season.
“We had a tough stretch in the beginning, but I think we’ve really bought in to the system, to the way Boogie’s structured the team,” Yandle said. “It’s a good thing when you can get wins and play within your structure.”
McCann drops ’em
Panthers 21-year-old forward Jared McCann is not known for his fighting prowess, but that didn’t stop him from dropping the gloves with Phialdelphia bruiser Radko Gudas on Sunday. After Gudas leveled Florida’s Maxim Mamin with an open-ice hit in the first period, McCann shoved Gudas before engaging.
McCann didn’t land a punch during a very brief bout, but also didn’t absorb a haymaker. It was the 16th career NHL fight for Gudas, who has also been suspended a combined 16 games in each of the last two seasons. For McCann, it was his second NHL fight.
“Canner’s a tough kid,” Yandle said. “He’s probably tougher than guys think. He knows what he’s doing, and obviously, he didn’t pick a guy that’s afraid of it either with Gudas. He’s a tough guy, too. You definitely got to tip your cap to Canner showing up after his linemate gets hit. It’s a big boost for our team.”
The fight gave the Panthers 40 fights this season, the most in the league. Twelve different players have at least one fight. McCann became the seventh Panthers player with multiple fights this season.
“You know what, shows a lot of character,” Boughner said. “His partner, his winger got hit there. I think that’s part of our culture and our identity. We’ve talked about that before. We want to be a hard team to play against, especially at home . ... ”