Panthers defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson speaks after Florida's 3-0 loss to Nashville on March 21. With about a month to play in the regular season, there are still a lot of moving parts when it comes to the NHL Standings. [gallery ids="1884"] The Panthers, Bruins and Rangers are in a three-way battle for that number one overall seed in the East and depending how the last few weeks of the season play out there are several potential interesting first round opponents for the Florida Panthers. Here is a look into these some of these potential first round opponents from most interesting to least: 1) Tampa Bay Lightning [gallery ids="1885"] Based on the current standings it is very likely the Lightning will finish in the top wildcard spot. For this matchup to happen, it would require the Rangers getting the top seed in the Eastern Conference and the Panthers finishing first in the Atlantic Division. To me, this is the most interesting potential opponent. Obviously, they are both division and in state rivals and if you saw the game Saturday there is obvious bad blood between these two teams (see Kulikov). Aside from the bad blood, these teams match up well against each other and the Panthers would be looking to finally get a series win over Tampa. Who wouldn’t want to see another battle of Florida! 2) Toronto Maple Leafs [gallery ids="1790"] If the playoffs started today the Panthers would host the Maple Leafs in a rematch from the second round of the 2023 playoffs. In that series the Panthers surprisingly steamrolled the Leafs 4-1. Toronto, finally got over their first-round playoff demons last season and would be looking to do the same again. These teams are 1-1 against each other this season with two more games on the schedule. From a hockey perspective, as much as it may seem Sam Reinhart scores every other night, the Leafs have the only player who does it more in Auston Matthews. Matthews has a 9-goal advantage on Reinhart with his league leading 57 goals. He is a former Hart trophy winner, who has taken his goal scoring to an even higher level this season. The key for the Panthers in this series would be cutting of the head of the snake for the Leafs and slowing down #34 in Blue. 3) Detroit Red Wings [gallery ids="1883"] As of March 22, the Red Wings have 78 points and a three-point lead for the last wild card spot in the East. For this matchup to happen, the Panthers would need to finish in first place in the east and the Red Wings would have to hold on to the last wildcard spot. The Wings have struggled as of late and part of those have come from a familiar face in Pantherland, in goalie Alex Lyon. Lyon played a major factor in the Panthers getting into the playoffs late last season but has had the opposite effect for Detroit this year. He is 0-6 in the month of March with a 5.15 G.A.A. Along with the Lyon storyline, the Red Wings have seen a resurgence in the game of midseason signing and future hall of famer, Patrick Kane whose playoff success is well documented and no one wants to deal with come playoff time. . BEST OF THE REST: The other two potential matchups for Florida if they were to secure the number one seed in the East would be the Washington Capitals and the New York Islanders. The Capitals started off the season very poorly but have found their footing as of late behind the resurgence of future goal scoring king Alex Ovechkin. The Panthers would be heavily favoured in this series but would be wise to stay out of the penalty box when facing the great 8. The other potential wildcard team is the New York Islanders. The Islanders appeared to be surging after the midseason hire of new coach Patrick Roy, but have come back down to earth losing their last 6 games. Their playoffs hopes are dwindling, but with Detroit struggling they as well remain still in the mix. Of all the potential matchups, this would be the least scary at least on paper for Panthers fans.
