The theme has been the same from the Florida Panthers for the better part of the past month and a half as they have spiraled down in the standings.
There have been several aspects within their game that they have liked. They are creating quality chances when playing 5-on-5. When healthy, they feel they have the talent to compete with anyone. The effort is there most nights.
None of those glass-half-full declarations have made an impact on their place in the standings. After their 5-3 loss to the New York Rangers on Sunday, the Panthers are 16-18-4. They have already matched the total number of regulation losses they had all of last season when they won the Presidents’ Trophy. They are in seventh place in the eight-team Atlantic Division, ahead of only the Montreal Canadiens.
Coach Paul Maurice has stressed patience at various points this season, his first with the Panthers. His focus was on developing a defensive-minded system, one he said likely would result in growing pains early but would make the team better-suited to compete in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
But a postseason berth seems like an afterthought nearing the halfway mark of the season unless the Panthers are able to go on any sort of winning streak that has eluded them all season.
Florida entered Monday 11 points behind the Tampa Bay Lightning (who have played three fewer games than Florida) for third place in the Atlantic Division and eight points behind the Pittsburgh Penguins (who have played two fewer games than Florida) for the Eastern Conference’s second wild card spot.
Moral victories need to be replaced by actual victories.
”We’re not at the ‘keep things up’ phase of our development,’’ Maurice said. “We’re at the ‘deal with all of your problems and get a hell of a lot better and [work] harder at it’ [phase].”
The Panthers have a lot of ground to pick up in the standings with less time to get there with each passing day.
And now they are at the start of a road-intensive January schedule. After hosting the Arizona Coyotes at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Florida plays nine of its next 11 games on the road over a 19-day stretch before playing back-to-back home games on Jan. 27 and 28 before the All-Star Break.
The January schedule includes seven games against teams who are currently in the playoff field.
“I know our schedule is tough,” Maurice said, “but we have good players out there. We have to play a hell of a lot harder.”
Goaltending plan
At the end of practice on Monday, Maurice spent a few minutes off to the side with goaltending coach Robb Tallas and goaltenders Sergei Bobrovksy and Spencer Knight.
While Maurice ideally wants one of his goaltenders to go on a hot streak, he also understands that the Panthers will need to call upon both netminders in January due to the team’s compact schedule.
“I need them both feeling good,” Maurice said. “The schedule says I can’t run one guy with the number of games. The question would be do you have to get one guy going for sure or can you split them to do that as well? There’s enough hockey here for both guys to feel guy and stay in a rhythm because it’s a heavy schedule. We’re going to talk about that.”
