Panthers dressing 'best lineup' in regular season finale seeking top Wild Card spot

Florida can avoid playing Boston in the first round with a win Thursday night

Entering the final night of the regular season, the Florida Players will not be looking to coast into the playoffs.

With one game left to play, the Panthers clinched their spot in the postseason on Tuesday night thanks to the Pittsburgh Penguins stunning loss to the Chicago Blackhawks.

On Wednesday night, the New York Islanders won their final game, taking down the Montreal Canadiens at UBS Arena.

That means the Panthers and Islanders are the two Wild Card winners.

Sorry Pittsburgh, you had a nice run.

New York (93 points) is now the leader in the clubhouse for the top Wild Card spot. Florida (92 points) can jump over the Islanders and snatch the spot away with a win over the Carolina Hurricanes on Thursday night.

Both teams are keen on finishing above the other, because whoever ends up with the second Wild Card spot will play the Presidents’ Trophy-winning Boston Bruins. The same Bruins that set new NHL records for wins (64 and counting) and points (133 so far) this season.

“We’re in, so we’re happy about that, but we know we have a long way to go still,” Panthers captain Sasha Barkov said.

The club that finishes in the top Wild Card spot will play the winner of the Metropolitan Division, which will be either Carolina (111 points) or the New Jersey Devils (110 points).

The Devils close out their season on the road against the Washington Capitals on Thursday.

A bit further south down the Atlantic coast, when Florida hosts the Hurricanes at FLA Live Arena, both teams will be fighting for what they deem as two crucial points.

“We will try to finish as far as up in the standings as we possibly can,” said Panthers Head Coach Paul Maurice. “We'll dress our best lineup for that game.”

Carolina has been struggling over the past month, at least when compared to the way they'd been playing for most of the season.

Despite entering the final game with a 51-21-9 record, the Hurricanes have gone just 8-9-1 since March 11.

That was the last game they played with star forward Andrei Svechnikov, who is out for the remainder of the season with a knee injury.

Now Carolina is desperately trying to hold on to what would be their third straight division title.

Florida just wants to avoid playing the juggernaut Bruins.

“It means a lot for us and can put us in a good spot in the standings,” Panthers defenseman Radko Gudas said of Thursday’s game. “I don’t think anybody in this room is taking (Carolina’s) game lightly.”

LINEUP UPDATES

Following an optional morning skate, Maurice said there would be no lineup changes. 

Alex Lyon will start his eighth consecutive game in Florida's net, looking to keep his amazing run going. 

The healthy scratches are expected to be Sam Bennett, Casey Fitzgerald and newly signed NCAA standout Michael Benning. 

If Benning is going to make his NHL debut this season, it'll be during the Stanley Cup Playoffs. 

WHAT THEY’RE SAYING

Paul Maurice on the game plan: “Play as well as we possibly can. We've been on a run for two and a half months and we've played some pretty fine hockey during that stretch, so that's the intent.”

Josh Mahura on both teams having something to play for: “I'm sure they have the exact same mindset. It's an important game for them as well. It’s going to be two teams competing hard. There's a lot to play for still, for us and for them, so it's going to be a good game.”

Maurice on achieving maximum motivation: “The challenge is so much of the emotion that you've been riding, and the pressure that is in your room, it's out. So you got to find a way now to manufacture all that energy. It certainly will come back in for Game One (of the playoffs), but that's our challenge tonight."