The Florida Panthers have known for a long time they would be going to the 2022 Stanley Cup playoffs. It’s why they always talk about the “bigger prize,” as Andrew Brunette put it Thursday, rather than lingering too much the many milestones they’ve hit along the way this year.
They have spent most of the season as the top team in the Eastern Conference and virtually the entire year in first place in the Atlantic Division. Their goal is the Stanley Cup — anything less will leave them disappointed when the season ends — so there was no extra celebration on the ice when the Panthers finished off their 5-3 win against the Buffalo Sabres on Sunday to become the first team this season to clinch a postseason spot.
Still, it’s not something Florida (48-15-6) should take for granted, especially given where this team was not so long ago. For only the eighth time in their 29-year history, the Panthers are headed to the Stanley Cup playoffs and they did it by setting a single-season franchise record for wins and getting a game-tying goal from Jonathan Huberdeau, which gave him a single-season franchise-record 97th point.
