Following losses by Pittsburgh and Buffalo, the Panthers will be one of two Wild Card winners

They said they’d be watching.

“We’ll definitely have it on,” Florida Panthers defenseman Brandon Montour said of the Pittsburgh Penguins' Tuesday home game against the Chicago Blackhawks.

Hopefully the Panthers players who watched the Penguins lose to Chicago on Tuesday night had some popcorn handy.

Thanks to the Pens loss, combined with a Buffalo Sables defeat in New Jersey, the Panthers have clinched a spot in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

It’s the fourth consecutive year the Cats have reached the postseason, a franchise-best streak.

There probably aren’t many people who saw Florida punching its ticket on Tuesday, not with Pittsburgh playing the league-worst Blackhawks at home.

“We just assumed four games ago, for the last five, that we would have to win out to give ourselves a chance,” Panthers Head Coach Paul Maurice said. “We haven’t lost a game yet, in the hockey game part of it anyway, so we've done what we need to do to give ourselves a chance.”

Florida putting itself in a situation to succeed is exactly why the team now has that coveted “x” next to its name in the standings.

Not every Panthers player may know it yet, though.

“I'm going to be sleeping tomorrow night,” Panthers goalie Alex Lyon joked when asked if he’d be watching the Pens game.

Wake up, Alex, you’re in the playoffs.

Who Florida will face as their first-round opponent is still up in the air.

A win over the Carolina Hurricanes on Thursday would ensure the Panthers the top Wild Card spot and a date with the Metropolitan Division champion. That will be either Carolina or the New Jersey Devils.

But it wouldn’t be the Presidents’ Trophy-winning Boston Bruins, who set new NHL records for wins and points in a season this year.

Should Florida finish in the second Wild Card spot, the Bruins would be waiting. 

At the end of the day, the Panthers are in the playoffs.

Still, having a bit more confidence heading into round one wouldn’t be the worst thing.