Florida Panthers postseason hopes are not gone yet
By Jasmine Yen
The last wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference is still up for grabs. Can the Florida Panthers make things interesting for a second straight season?
The Eastern Conference’s last wild-card spot is still a toss-up. Currently, the Columbus Blue Jackets hold it with 84 points, but the Montreal Canadiens and Philadelphia Flyers are still considered to be in the mix. So why not the Florida Panthers?
With the emergence of Carter Hart and 8-game winning streak, the Flyers clawed their way back to the playoff picture. His ankle got hurt, but Brian Elliot has been holding his own. The Flyers currently have 76 points, identical to the Panthers.
All season long, the Cats have not had good goaltending. Roberto Luongo‘s save percentage is .897 while James Reimer‘s is .902. Their team save percentage is dead last in the league and even though they average 3.2 goals a game (ninth in the league), it’s not a winning formula.
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Thanks to the emergence of the rookie goaltender Sam Montembeault, things have changed for the Panthers. With the injury to Reimer, the rookie was called up. Even though he had a shaky NHL debut, he has steadied the ship for the Panthers. In his last four games. Montembeault has not given up more than three goals and Florida has gone on a four-game winning streak.
It’s a small sample size, but the number of games the Panthers have left to play is shrinking as well. They have 11 games left and they need to squeeze every last point they can get. Montembeault’s confidence is through the roof and confidence in a goaltender can do magical things.
The Panthers don’t have a bad team. They have a consistent Selke contender in Aleksander Barkov, they have the second-best powerplay in the league (26.9%), and their core of stars are all under 30 years of age.
Now that the team has stable goaltending, they have the ability to tear teams apart. Their next 11 games will be a challenge as 7 of them are against teams in a playoff spot. However, if they can beat the San Jose Sharks 4-2, they should be able to take on the Arizona Coyotes and Dallas Stars.
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The teams standing in their way are the Montreal Canadiens and Columbus Blue Jackets, both of which are not exactly playing the most consistent hockey. It’s a long shot, but the Panthers do have a chance.