Panthers still confident even after missing clinch opportunity. And updated scenarios
There was a moment of confusion in the Florida Panthers’ locker room after their 2-1, overtime loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs on Thursday. Brandon Montour knew his team was still in control of its postseason destiny — all the Panthers needed was one point Monday to make the regular-season finale a win-and-in situation — he just didn’t know how much help they got from across the league.
A few seconds after Florida lost at FLA Live Arena, the Islanders lost to the Capitals, too, only Montour had heard otherwise.
“Somebody said they were winning,” the star defenseman said Monday. “It shows how much I’m paying attention.”
It sums up the way the Panthers are handling this final week of the regular season. In Game 81, they did what they had to do and got to overtime with the Maple Leafs. In Game 82, a win will get them to the 2023 Stanley Cup playoffs.
It’s the situation they’ve known existed since the start of the week. Florida always needed to get three points out of its last two games to make the Stanley Cup playoffs as a wild card, no matter what else happened across the NHL, and it still might be what’s required, depending on how the other contenders finish.
“You hoped you could get to that last game and have that chance,” coach Paul Maurice said Monday.
It’s why the Panthers’ loss Monday — as devastating as it could have been with star forward John Tavares scoring with just 21.3 seconds left in overtime — didn’t have Florida worrying too much. The Panthers played well enough to win, with 46 shots, and they believe they’ll get the win they need if they play the same way Thursday when they host the Hurricanes in Sunrise.
“If we bring that effort, that’s all you can hope for,” goaltender Alex Lyon said Monday. “If we bring it again like that, it’s going to make us more successful than not.”
There is a chance the regular-season finale might not mean anything to Florida, either, and it became a bit more likely with New York’s loss in Washington.
No matter what happens against the Hurricanes, the Panthers will make the Cup playoffs as long as the Islanders lose once more in any manner and the Penguins at least once in regulation, as long as the Sabres also drop one of their last three games. It means Florida could clinch as soon as Tuesday, as long as Pittsburgh loses at home to the Blackhawks and Buffalo to the Devils in New Jersey. If the Sabres lose and Penguins win, the Panthers will have another chance to clinch Wednesday if New York loses at home to the Canadiens in its regular-season finale.
Pittsburgh plays the Blue Jackets in its regular-season finale Thursday in Columbus, and Buffalo closes out the season with two more games Thursday and Friday — first against the Senators at home and finally against the Blue Jackets in Columbus.
Florida can also get in with two overtime or shootout losses by the Penguins, or an overtime or shootout loss of its own, as long as the Islanders don’t win their finale in regulation and Pittsburgh doesn’t win out.
All of this is beyond the Panthers’ control and they’ll have a much clearer idea of what they’ll need by the time they face Carolina later this week. They’re keeping a simple outlook for now: If they win, they’re win.
“We control what we do here,” Montour said. “We collect as many points as we can in our games and the rest will take care of itself.”
Florida’s playoff chances jumped to 82 percent after games concluded Monday, according to FiveThirtyEight.
If they wind up missing the playoffs, the Panthers will ultimately regret what happened Monday, though. Florida, which rallied in the third period with a goal by Montour, had four shots in overtime and never could beat Toronto goaltender Ilya Samsonov, then got caught with all three players up around the net, pushing for the goal, which ultimately let Tavares get a breakaway.
The Panthers were inches away from locking up everything Monday and instead could have to sweat it out until the final day of the regular season Friday.
“They played as hard as they could,” Maurice said. “We got a point that we needed, put us in a better spot than we were five hours ago and that’s what it’s all about.”
This story was originally published April 11, 2023 at 10:47 AM.
