A team that believes in its coaching staff and knows exactly what its capable of can be very dangerous come playoff time

It’s only been a few days since the Florida Panthers saw their incredible journey to the Stanley Cup Final reach an abrupt ending.

Dropping four out of five games immediately after winning 11 of 12 will do that.

Still, at the end of the day, nobody could’ve seen Florida’s run to the Final coming.

It was a team that struggled to find any form of consistency during the regular season, only to come together at the last minute to squeak into the playoffs.

Not only were the Panthers an eight seed, but between injuries, illnesses and overall underachievement, they weren’t viewed as anything but an afterthought once the postseason began.

Things have certainly changed in the two months since.

“Just the fact that we got there, and we competed and everything kind of fell into place,” said Panthers defenseman Aaron Ekblad. “We bought into a system that we know can win.”

Indeed, Florida’s players were able to prove to themselves that this is a team capable of great things.

Putting faith into the systems taught by Panthers Head Coach Paul Maurice and understanding what it would take to succeed in them was a big part in the team taking a big step forward.

“We can build on this, and we’ll only get better,” said Florida captain Sasha Barkov.

Learning how to play successful playoff hockey is invaluable, particularly when it comes with the confidence that performing at that level will absolutely lead to victories.

Florida got firsthand experience with that during their playoff run.

“We didn't get the job done, but we know we can do it,” said Ekblad. “That kind of belief is going to be really important for us moving forward.”

It will absolutely help the team when training camp arrives in a few months.

Florida will have a roster of mostly returning players when they reconvene in Coral Springs, which means the group taking the ice will have a far deeper understanding of Maurice’s systems, and now, they have the firsthand knowledge of how well they can work.

“There is a whole lot that you don’t have to cover, it’s not brand new to them” Maurice said. “A big chunk of what we do has already been covered.”

Leave it to Barkov to find a positive spin to put on the experience.

Barkov has been with the team since being selected second overall in the 2013 NHL Draft.

He’s seen some extreme high highs and low lows with the franchise, but nothing like what he and his teammates experienced over the past couple months.

If Barkov believes that the best is yet to come, and that the Panthers will ultimately learn and grow from the experience of losing in the Final, his opinion is one that is worth listening to.

“We will learn from this, and we will get better,” Barkov said. “So it was a good feeling.”