Florida Panthers Winning, Getting Help in Playoff Race

The Florida Panthers appeared to have played themselves out of the NHL playoff race on Monday night when they lost in Ottawa.

That was their fourth consecutive loss and things looked pretty bleak.

They look better today.

By virtue of their 7-0 win in Columbus on Saturday night as well as the Pittsburgh Penguins losing at home to the Bruins, Florida is currently holding the final wild card spot in the Eastern Conference.

They have five games left to hold onto it.

A big one comes Tuesday night when the Buffalo Sabres come to Sunrise as they have played their way back into this race.

Buffalo is four points back of the Panthers but have two games in hand.

Should be a fun sprint to the finish.

FLORIDA HOCKEY NOW

Carter Verhaeghe is as unassuming as they come, but he is evolving into a star with the Florida Panthers.

He had himself a historical night Saturday in Columbus.

Oh, and Alex Lyon made some personal history as well.

• Matthew Tkachuk had himself quite a night — and quite a season — as he had a hat trick with four points in Florida’s 5-2 win in Montreal on Thursday.
• Tkachuk becomes just the second 100-point scorer in franchise history and certainly looks like an MVP candidate. While no one is taking that away from Connor McDavid, someone has to finish second.
• Video from Paul Maurice, Verhaeghe, Sam Reinhart and Lyon following the win against the Blue Jackets is up on the FHN YouTube Channel.
• You can click the embedded videos below or click RIGHT HERE to see everything all in one place. If you hit subscribe (it’s free), you will know when new content comes up.

NATIONAL HOCKEY NOW

David Pastrnak had himself an afternoon in Pittsburgh as he gets a hat trick to lift the Boston Bruins to the most points in franchise history.

• The Pittsburgh Penguins got a lot of power play chances on Saturday and failed to do anything with them.
• Alex Nedeljkovic Is probably playing for a job with the Detroit Red Wings.
• The Philadelphia Flyers probably should play a little better defense today in Pittsburgh than they did against Buffalo.
• It took them a while, but the Calgary Flames finally have themselves a comeback win.
• Marc-Andre Fleury was back to play the Vegas Golden Knights.

PANTHERS ON DECK

BUFFALO SABRES AT FLORIDA PANTHERS

• When: Tuesday, 7 p.m.
• Where: FLA Live Arena, Sunrise
• TV/Streaming: Bally Sports Florida; ESPN+
• Radio: WPOW 96.5-FM2; WBZT 1230-AM (Palm Beach); WCTH 100.3-FM (Florida Keys); SiriusXM
• Panthers Radio Streaming: SiriusXM 932
• Season Series (Florida leads 2-1): Panthers 4, Sabres 3 (Oct. 15); Panthers 4, Sabres 1 (Jan. 16); Sabres 3, Panthers 1 (Feb. 24)
• Last season: Florida won 3-0
  
• All-time regular season series: Florida leads 53-45-8, 4 ties
• Up Next for the Panthers: Ottawa Senators at Florida, Thursday, 7 p.m.