Florida Panthers Enter Second Half With a Loss. They’re Fine

The Florida Panthers finished the first half of their 2024-25 NHL season by taking a loss in Colorado, but that did not make them feel any less about themselves and what they did to start their defense of the Stanley Cup.

The Panthers certainly had their share of ups-and-downs, but they kept the downs to a minimum — and have a lot to look forward to moving into the second half.

The defending Stanley Cup champions have shown few ill effects from any so-called championship hangover.

The Panthers sit four points back of the Toronto Maple Leafs for first place in the Atlantic Division at 24-15-2.

Second place in the division sort of looks good on the Panthers.

If they finish their season there and open the playoffs against either the Bruins or Lightning, they would probably be OK with that.

They certainly aren’t going to kill themselves trying to win another divisional banner. Nor should they.

“I feel like we have learned a lot about ourselves, how we play and how we want to play,’’ captain Sasha Barkov said. “There have been a lot of good games where we have played exactly how we wanted. There has been both; we learn or we win. We have had a lot of those.

“It is hard to play hockey, but we want to want to learn to enjoy playing as hard as possible. Have tight games where we grind and come out on top. That’s how we want to play, and that’s how we played most of the season.’’

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It does not seem all that long ago that the Panthers were celebrating their Stanley Cup championship with a ring ceremony on a wet and blustery night in Fort Lauderdale, raising their banner the following night before playing the Bruins in the season opener.

“It is going quick, and when you play so many games, the time does fly,’’ Anton Lundell said. “We’re having fun, it goes even faster. It has been a good year so far. We try to win every game, but it has been a challenge for sure.

“Everyone wants to give us their best, get a piece of us. It has been a learning curve on that part as well. We’re the champions and what comes with that, is, everyone plays their best against us.’’

Yet, here we are, 41 games into their title defense — which, honestly, has not even started yet.

The Panthers can lose the Stanley Cup during the regular season by missing the playoffs, but that does not seem to be remotely likely.

They also cannot win the Cup during the regular season.

They know this as well as anyone.

The fun for this team is going to be building for the playoffs. Get in and get going.

“It has been a very busy schedule, it feels like we’re playing all the time,’’ Barkov said. “We haven’t really paid much attention to how many games we have played. We just come here and practice or play. I enjoy being here and having fun. That’s all we do. We don’t really care about the numbers.’’

ON DECK: GAME No. 42

FLORIDA PANTHERS at UTAH HOCKEY CLUB

• When: Wednesday, 10 p.m.
• Where: Delta Center, Salt Lake City
• National TV: TNT, TruTV
• Streaming: Max
• Radio: WPOW 96.5-FM2; WBZT 1230-AM (Palm Beach); WCTH 100.3-FM (Florida Keys); SiriusXM
• Panthers Radio Streaming: SiriusXM 932, NHL app
• Season Series — At Utah: Wednesday. At Florida: March 28.
• Last Season vs. Arizona Coyotes: Florida Won 2-0
• All-time Regular Season Series vs. Coyotes: Florida leads 21-20-0, 3 ties
• Up Next for the Panthers: Saturday vs. Boston Bruins, 1 p.m. (ABC)