SUNRISE, Fla. – It will come down to the wire.
With three games left and seeding in the Atlantic Division still far from set in stone, the second-place Florida Panthers (104 points) find themselves just three points behind the first-place Boston Bruins (107 points) and three points ahead of the third-place Toronto Maple Leafs (101 points).
The Maple Leafs, who’s visit the Panthers on Tuesday, also have one game in hand.
Beginning their final regular-season homestand with a 2-0 win against the Ottawa Senators on Tuesday at Amerant Bank Arena, the Panthers will look to keep on picking up key points down the stretch when they host the Columbus Blue Jackets on Thursday night at 7 p.m. ET.
In order to have home-ice advantage in Round 1 of the playoffs, the Panthers will either have to overtake the Bruins for first place or fend off the Maple Leafs and keep their claws in second place.
“Home-ice advantage is something that we cherish,” defenseman Dmitry Kulikov said following Wednesday’s practice. “We want to have that home-ice advantage, playing the last few games of the season at home and get in that right mindset.”
Despite facing two more lottery-bound teams before hosting Toronto in the regular-season finale, the Panthers know that teams outside of the playoff picture can be equally as dangerous in April.
Even with the playoffs out of reach, teams like the Blue Jackets still have something to prove.
“There's a freedom that they get to play with,” head coach Paul Maurice said of the teams trying to head into the offseason on a high note. “Everybody gets very excited. It makes them dangerous.”
BRICK WALLS
Posting his second shutout of the season on Tuesday night against the Senators, backup Anthony Stolarz showed again why the Panthers clearly have one of the best goalie tandems in the NHL.
An elite one-two punch between the pipes all season long, Sergei Bobrovsky sits at 34-17-4 with a 2.43 goals-against average and a .913 save percentage, while Stolarz, who’s in his first season in South Florida, owns a 15-7-2 record with a 2.03 goals-against average and a .926 save percentage.
“(They provide) confidence for us,” Kulikov said of the team’s netminders. “If we give up the chance, then we know they're going to make the save. We are very confident playing in front of them.”
While the Stanley Cup remains the ultimate goal for every player on the Panthers, Bobrovsky and Stolarz are also in the hunt for some regular-season hardware – the William M. Jennings Trophy.
Each season, the trophy is awarded to the goalies (min. 25 games played) on the team that surrenders the fewest goals in the NHL. A two-horse race at the time of this writing, the Panthers (194 goals allowed) are second to only the Winnipeg Jets (193 goals allowed) in that category.
Winnipeg has also played in one fewer game, which gives Florida a slight edge at this moment.
But no matter what happens, the Panthers know both of their goaltenders are winners.
“I cannot tell you the amount of time that you spend when you don't have that (two strong goalies) because then you got to pick the right game to play your backup goaltender,” Maurice said. “Having two guys that you don't worry about saves just an hour's alone of agony and anxiety for the coach.”
As it stands now, the franchise record for fewest goals allowed in a full season is 200 in 2015-16.
