Indeed they have.
Making a strong push for a playoff spot in the early goings of the second half, the Panthers have gone 7-2-1 over their last 10 games to improve to 23-20-5 on the season. As of right now, they sit just three points behind the Penguins for the second wild card in the Eastern Conference.
Looking to push their point streak to six games and make up more ground in the standings, the Panthers enter tonight's tilt fresh off of a 5-3 win over the Wild at FLA Live Arena on Saturday.
Anton Lundell, Eetu Luostarinen, Carter Verhaeghe, Gustav Forsling and Sam Reinhart all lit the lamp against Minnesota, while Alex Lyon stopped 29 of 32 shots for his second straight win. On fire as of late, Reinhart and Aleksander Barkov both pushed their point streaks to seven games.
After exiting the game with injuries, both Aaron Ekblad and Sam Bennett will be back in the lineup against the Rangers. Set to make his third straight appearance, Lyon has gone 2-0-0 with a .912 save percentage since being recalled from the AHL on Jan. 10.
Converting on one of their two looks on the power play against the Wild, the Panthers have scored at least one goal on the man advantage in nine of their last 11 games. During that hot stretch -- which began back on Jan. 1 -- they've gone 15-for-36 for a 41.7% success rate.
"I think we're just playing for each other, and we've been really good on special teams, too," said Luostarinen, who set a new career-high with his 10th goal of the season in the win over the Wild. "That's been a help for us, for sure."
Sitting third in the Metropolitan Division with a record of 25-14-7, the Rangers have won three of their last five games, but enter tonight's game on the heels of a 3-1 loss to Boston on Thursday.
Trailing the Bruins 3-0 in the third period, Ben Harpur scored the lone goal for New York to spoil Jeremy Swayman's shutout bid. In their own cage, Igor Shesterkin turned aside 24 of 27 shots.
Dating back to Nov. 30, the Rangers have earned points in 18 of their last 23 contests.
Artemi Panarin leads New York in scoring with 47 points (12 goals, 35 assists), while Mika Zibanejad sits second with 46 points, including a team-high 20 goals. Leading the defensive corps, Adam Fox, the 2021 Norris Trophy winner, has tallied 45 points (nine goals, 36 assists).
Second on the Rangers with 19 goals, Chris Kreider is always a player to keep an eye on against the Panthers. Cracking the scoresheet in nine of his last 11 games against Florida, Kreider has produced 18 points (nine goals, nine assists) and a +11 rating in that stretch.
The backbone of New York's fifth-ranked defense (2.63 goals allowed per game), Shesterkin, the NHL's reigning Vezina Trophy winner, has posted a 20-8-6 record with .917 save percentage. Handling the bulk of the work in the crease, he's started 11 of the last 14 games for New York.
Facing off for the second time this season, the Rangers secured a 5-3 win over the Panthers in their first meeting back on Jan. 1 at FLA Live Arena behind a pair of goals from Zibanejad.
Overall, Florida owns a 3-3-0 record over its last six head-to-head matchups with New York.
"You can't feed their transition," Maurice said of the Rangers. "They're dynamic on the rush. They play wide and they make those plays. How we handle that's important, but how many times we put them in that situation is more important."
