Panthers’ Gudas on upcoming game in Washington: ‘Biggest game of the season, for sure’
The Florida Panthers have 25 chances left to try to complete their run to the 2023 Stanley Cup playoffs, but none, Radko Gudas insists, is more important than Thursday.
“Biggest game of the season,” the defenseman said Tuesday, “for sure.”
It’s Panthers against the Washington Capitals at 7 p.m. at Capital One Arena and the winner will have the upper hand in the wild card race.
After both teams lost Tuesday, Florida (27-24-6) heads into Thursday two points behind the Capitals (28-22-6) for the No. 8 seed in the Eastern Conference, with only one more game played than Washington. Realistically, these are the two teams most clearly fighting for the final spot the East field — the Pittsburgh Penguins have a three-point edge on the Panthers despite having played four fewer games — and this is the type of game capable of flipping both teams’ fortunes.
“It’s a four-point swing,” forward Carter Verhaeghe said Tuesday. “We’re making a playoff push and they’re right ahead of us.”
Florida will play the Capitals once more in April — again on the road — in the third to last game of the Panthers’ regular season. Florida won the only other meeting three months ago in Sunrise.
This one, though, is a game the Panthers have had an eye on for weeks. After practicing or playing on nine of the last 10 days, Florida took a day off Wednesday to travel to Washington, making sure to be fully rested for another playoff-type matchup.
The rest seems necessary given how the Panthers played Tuesday, when they got blown out 6-2 by the St. Louis Blues at the Enterprise Center. Florida spent the night in Missouri before traveling Wednesday.
“We absolutely ran out of gas,” coach Paul Maurice said Tuesday. “We’ve just got to get rested and get right, and then the emotion should carry us through that game. ... We’ll get them into bed early tonight, we’ll fly tomorrow, get a couple of days of decent rest and then we’ll get after it.”
The loss to the Blues was discouraging, especially since St. Louis seemingly waved the white flag on its season Thursday by trading All-Star right wing Vladimir Tarasenko to the New York Rangers. Goaltender Spencer Knight made his first NHL appearance in more than a month and gave up five goals on 27 shots, the power play went 0 for 2 and is now in a 1-of-23 slump, and the Panthers had only 18 shots through two periods. It all came on the heels of one of Florida’s gutsiest wins of the season, too.
It’s also a loss the Panthers will be able to move past quickly if they can follow it up by beating the Capitals. Washington will be without superstar left wing Alex Ovechkin, who’s away from the team to attend to a family matter, and Florida truly has played better lately, with 11 wins and 24 points in their last 19 games. The Panthers, who will play their 12th road game since New Year’s Day, are an underdog, but a slim one.
“We want to win every game, but we know it’s not possible,” Verhaeghe said. “We want to keep on building our game and try to get better every night, and I think we’re on the right track, but tonight wasn’t our best and I think we’re going to bring our best in Washington.”
Florida could have its own injury issue, too. Sam Bennett didn’t play in the third period at the Blues with an unspecified injury and Maurice said the Panthers will know more about their second-line center’s availability Wednesday.
There’s no time left for excuses, though. The Panthers’ playoff chances are back down to 35 percent, according to FiveThirtyEight, and this is one of the most meaningful games left on anyone’s schedule.
“It comes down to these games, these conference games that mean a lot,” Gudas said. “Everybody’s going to look forward to that game. A game with a lot of meaning, it’s always fun to play.”
