Panthers’ margin for error slimmer after loss
The Panthers don’t have an exact target number for wins and losses they think they need to hit to the make the playoffs, but they do know they can’t afford to lose many more.
On Tuesday, they gave away one of those few losses when they fell 6-3 to the Flyers in Philadelphia and, while the Panthers tried to be diplomatic about it just being another loss, this was clearly one they regretted.
“It’s obviously a team that’s on the outside,” defenseman Brandon Montour said. “We want that one back.”
There were reasonable excuses — Florida was playing in its second game in as many nights, goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky got a rare day off with it being the second half of a back-to-back set, and forwards Sam Bennett and Anthony Duclair were both out — only there’s not much time left for them.
With 11 games remaining in the regular season, the Panthers (36-28-7) at least temporarily lost control of their destiny by losing to the Flyers — the Islanders and Penguins both passed them in points percentage — and the schedule gets tougher after they blew a chance against one of the league’s worst teams.
Another two-game homestand is coming up for Florida against two of the best teams in the
NHL, starting with the Toronto Maple Leafs on
Thursday at 7 p.m. at FLA Live Arena in Sunrise.
“You want to play against the best teams,” forward Sam Reinhart said Tuesday. “That’s brought some good hockey out of us, as well, so we’re excited about the challenge.”
The Panthers will have to rise to it.
The loss in Philadelphia dropped the Panthers’ postseason chances from 77 percent to 65, according to FiveThirtyEight, and their last six homes games are mostly against quality opponents — the Maple Leafs (4219-9) on Thursday, the Rangers on Saturday, and the Sabres, Senators, Hurricanes and Toronto again next month.
“All the teams that we’re in the exact same boat, we’re going to lose games that we don’t want to lose, which is any time
you lose a game,” coach Paul Maurice said Tuesday, “so just get the hell off the carpet, get back up and get back in the fight. The teams that get there and the teams that are good in the playoffs are resilient.”
The schedule is still in the Panthers’ favor, at least. They have an easier remaining strength of schedule than Pittsburgh and the Islanders, although none of the three have a dramatically easy or difficult remaining slate of games.
Even with the loss, the Panthers can take confidence from the way they’ve played in March. The loss ended a seasonbest seven-game points streak and they did pile up 44 shots in the losing effort.
“We had more than enough offense to win,”
Maurice said.
As soon as Thursday, the Panthers could be back in control of their playoff destiny, depending on how Pittsburgh fares in back-to-back games against the Avalanche and Stars.
Even if they were miffed by losing, the Panthers aren’t panicking. They made up the ground they needed to earlier this month and now are expecting a fight to the finish.
“We lost the game. We’ll leave it here and we move on,” Maurice said. “We weren’t looking at the last 20 games with the idea that we would win every single game.”