Florida was bumped out of a Wild Card spot with Pittsburgh's win Wednesday night
An amazing challenge awaits the Florida Panthers over the next few days, and they’re looking to face it head-on.
Florida was knocked out of a playoff spot Wednesday night, leapfrogged by the Pittsburgh Penguins following a big win of their own inside the barn of defending Stanley Cup Champion Colorado.
Eager to bounce back from Tuesday’s loss in Philadelphia, the Panthers will have to conquer a rather significant challenge if they’re going to climb back into a postseason position.
It starts Thursday night when the Toronto Maple Leafs come to Sunrise for their first of two visits over Florida’s final 11 games (they also play once more in Toronto).
Looking to lock up home ice in the first round of the playoffs, the Leafs will likely be a little extra motivated after dropping Tuesday’s game at the Islanders by the lopsided score of 7-2.
Florida will then get a whole day to recover before having to battle another one of the league’s best teams when the New York Rangers stop by on Saturday.
The superstar filled Blueshirts of Broadway have solidified their spot among the NHL’s elite, boasting a deep lineup and the league’s reigning Vezina Trophy winner, Igor Shesterkin.
To their credit, the Panthers are looking forward to the opportunity to showing they should be considered among the league’s top clubs.
“You want to play against the best teams,” said Sam Reinhart. “I think that’s brought some good hockey out of us as well. We’re excited about the challenge. Every one is a big one for us right now.”
Florida has faced Toronto only once this season, a 5-4 overtime loss at Scotiabank Arena on Jan. 17.
GAME DEETS
Sam Bennett and Anthony Duclair both took part in the Panthers morning skate after both missed Tuesday game in Philadelphia.
Duclair, who was out with an illness, will skate against the Leafs. During the skate he worked on the third line with Eric Staal and Ryan Lomberg.
Bennett will not play. He missed Tuesday's game with an undisclosed injury and will miss at least one more.
For more about Bennett's injury, check out my story from Tuesday.
Sergei Bobrovsky will start in goal for Florida.
WE'RE GOING STREAKING
The Panthers have several players riding points streaks heading into Thursday's game.
Sasha Barkov has 13 points (2-11-13) over his past eight games, Reinhart (6-3-9) and Carter Verhaeghe (4-5-9) each have nine points over a six-game run.
And then there’s Matthew Tkachuk.
His current streak is also six games in length, and over that span he’s racked up a whopping 15 points (6-9-15). Tkachuk has also scored at least one goal in five consecutive contests.
WHAT THEY’RE SAYING
Matthew Tkachuk: “We’re right there. It's basically a three-team race to the finish line right now for two spots. We're the one team on the outside looking in right now, but I think that we're up for the challenge. I know we're all super excited like for that challenge, and a chance to be playing our best hockey going into playoffs is something that we're hopefully looking forward to.”
Gus Forsling: “We need to play our game, play a solid defensive game. We know we can score goals, but we’ve got to shut it down back there.”
Paul Maurice: “In our last two weeks, we have had Pittsburgh, and I think they were on a tremendous roll when they came in, and you got Vegas and then you got New Jersey, and in some ways all three of those guys have some high-end guys. It's about time and space for both teams (tonight). We will do everything that we can to take that away from them as they will test us.”