Richard Zednik is becoming more and more important to the Panthers playoff push with each passing game. Zednik has been the catalyst in several of Florida’s recent games, sparking comebacks and scoring game tying or winning goals. Tonight, Zednik was a little late with his goal, but better late than never sometimes. Zednik scored the only goal in a SO tonight to lift the Panthers over the NY Rangers and into a tie for 6th place in the Eastern Conference.

The game was a very tough, grind it out type of game that featured a lot of offensive pressure with little result. The Rangers struck first, slamming home a rebound with2:46 left in the 1st period to take a 1-0 lead after one period despite being outshot 15-11 by the Panthers.

The 2nd period was an evenly matched affair with both teams getting 11 shots on goal and some good scoring chances, but Florida would be the only team to score. Michael Frolik stuffed home a rebound opportunity 2:37 into the 2nd period to tie the game at 1-1. The teams would play goalless hockey for the entire 3rd period and overtime despite 30 shots on goal between the two.

In a game highlighted by fantastic goaltending, it was fitting that the game would head to a shoot out to determine the winner. Both goaltenders had fantastic games in goal with Tomas Vokoun stopping 34 of 35 shots and NY’s Henrik Lundqvist stopped 42 of 43 shots he faced. In overtime, both goalies would take their fantastic play into the shoot out.

Lundqvist stopped 2 of the first 3 attempts Florida had on net. Vokoun stopped the first 3 NY attempts on net. At this point Richard Zednik decided it was time to end this. With the 4 attempt in the shoot out, Zednik beat Lundqvist and Vokoun made his 4th save in the shoot out to give Florida the 2-1 win.

The Panthers are playing incredible hockey at the perfect time of the season, propelling themselves closer and closer to the playoffs. The team is 12-3-3 since January 1st and are now in a 3-way tie for 6th place in the Eastern Conference. The Panthers are certainly making a strong push for the playoffs and it will be an intense finish to the season as Florida chases their first playoff appearance in 8 seasons.

Last night the Panthers made a big impression in an important statement game for them. Florida came into last nights matchup with the Carolina Hurricanes leading their opponent by 1pt in the Eastern Conference playoff standings, holding on tightly to the last playoff spot in the East. A win would give the Panthers some nice breathing room, a loss would have put Carolina back ahead of them by 1pt.

The Panthers came out a little sluggish and were out hustled at times by Carolina, but the Panthers played tremendous defense all night, led by Tomas Vokoun in goal. Vokoun saved one of his best games for the perfect time as Carolina out shot Florida in every period (15-8, 14-9, 13-6) but Vokoun was ready stopping all 42 shots he faced, earning his 4th shutout of the season.

Florida would make the most of the few shots they mustered through the first 2 periods of the game. Nathan Horton opened the scoring at 7:31 of the 1st, putting Florida up 1-0. Richard Zednik found the back of the net at 12:49 to give the Panthers a 2-0 lead after one period.

In the 2nd period Florida would put the Hurricanes away for good. Anthony Stewart and Gregory Campbell would score 12 seconds apart (at 9:18 and 9:30) to double Florida’s lead to 4-0 by the midpoint of the 2nd period. Michael Frolik would add a 5th goal at 13:33 to finish the scoring for the game. After a defensive 3rd period, Florida prevailed 5-0.

Florida could not have asked for a better outcome than the one they got last night. On the road, against a division opponent, with playoff implications and the Panthers blanked their opposition. Not only was this game important for the Panthers playoff chances, the win giving them a 3pt lead now over Carolina, it actually bumped them up to 7th place in the Eastern Conference ahead of the slumping Buffalo Sabres. Florida also gains a great mental bonus from the win and momentum heading into a difficult stretch over the next 8 days. The Panthers will play host over the next 8 days to the top 4 seeds in the Eastern Conference (starting with the NY Rangers tonight, followed by Washington, New Jersey, and Boston) and the #4 seed in the Western Conference, the Chicago Blackhawks.

Last night’s win was great, now its time to put it behind you and move forward and get things done against some top notch competition in the coming days.

Last night the Florida Panthers turned a potential disaster into a golden opportunity to move themselves back into the last playoff spot in the East with a remarkable come from behind victory against the Toronto Maple Leafs. The Panthers, at one point down 3 goals in the 3rd period, scored 3 goals in just over 6 minutes to force overtime. Just when it seemed a shoot out (the Panthers achilles heal this season) was iminent, Florida scored on its only shot of the OT session to steal a 5-4 victory.

The 1st period of the game was a rather slow affair that saw Florida out shoot Toronto 11-9, but Toronto would score the only goal of the period at 10:31 to take a 1-0 lead after the 1st. The 2nd period was a much more frenzied period, both teams racking up 14 shots on goal. Florida tied things up at 1-1 when Brett McLean found the back of the net for his 4th of the season after just 3:13. The rest of the period would be back and forth until the final 3:10 of the period when Toronto scored twice to take a 3-1 lead into the intermission.

The 3rd period was much like the 2nd, but lady luck as on Florida’s bench this time. Both teams again racked up a lot of shots on goal, 16-12 in favor of Toronto. Early on it looked like Toronto put Florida away when they scored at 7:47 of the 3rd to go up 4-1. Nathan Horton breathed life into his team though by scoring a mere 26 seconds later to give his team hope at 4-2. Ville Peltonen scored at 10:48 to pull Florida within a goal at 4-3, and at this point it seemed Florida could not be stopped. Richard Zednik scored at 14:31 to tie the game at 4-4 and the Panthers would hold on to force overtime.

The Panthers’ comeback was made all the more exciting in OT. As the overtime dragged on with neither team getting a shot on goal, Florida found a way to win and avoid the shoot out. Richard Zednik would strike again, scoring on the only shot of the OT period with just 1:03 left to steal the victory.

The Panthers comeback is made all the more important because it vaulted them past idle Carolina and back into the 8th spot in the East, 1pt ahead of the Hurricanes. Florida has been very good at coming from behind in games this season, especially when down by more than 1 goal. Their biggest problem however has been coming back, only to fall in a shoot out and not get the full points out of a game. Zednik’s OT goal certainly brought his team to life, and at a crucial point. Florida’s next game is a big one as they face Carolina Thursday night. A win on Thursday and the Panthers can gain some breathing space in the standings, but a loss puts them back behind Carolina in 9th place.

The Florida Panthers have been riding on a hot hand offensively since the start of the new year, and surprisingly the offensive contributions are not coming just from the offense, in fact a good portion of the goals are coming from defenseman.

Florida has scored a total of 144 goals this season, and 37 of those goals have come from defenseman. For a team that was concerned at the start of the season about offensive output, it is safe to say those concerns have been put to rest with the defense racking up 25.7 % of the team’s goals.

Jay Bouwmeester and Bryan McCabe have been the leading contributors on the offensive side among defenseman. Bouwmeester has 12 goals and 16 assists while McCabe has 10 goals and 14 assists. Florida’s 37 goals from defenseman ranks the team 1st in the NHL with goal production from defenseman. For a team pushing for a playoff spot, it is certainly a good thing to have solid two-way defensive players that can contribute on offense as well.

The Florida Panthers ran into one of the few teams as focused and rolling as themselves last night, and were  out-hustled and out-played in a 3-1 loss to the Washington Capitals. The Caps, 2nd best in the Eastern Conference and well out in front in the Southeast division, dominated the Panthers and kept them in check for most of the game. In reality, things could have been worse for the Panthers, who managed to keep the game close despite Washington clearly controlling the game from start to finish.

The night got off to an ominous start as the Capitals scored just 33 seconds into the game to take an early 1-0 lead. Keith Ballard would get Florida back in the game at 8:35 with his 5th goal of the season, tying the game 1-1. Despite being outshot 15-7 in the opening period, the Panthers escaped with a 1-1 tie. The 2nd period was again controlled for the most part by Washington, who outshot the Panthers 11-9, but were stonewalled by Tomas Vokoun in net. The 2nd period came and went with no goals.

The 3rd period would be a different story. Washington again flexed its muscle in the 3rd, outshooting Florida 13-5. The Caps again found the back of the net early, scoring 43 seconds into the period to retake a one goal lead at 2-1. Try as they might, Washington wasn’t able to find the back of the net against Vokoun again, but at 18:47 they would take a 3-1 lead on an empty net goal.

The Panthers have been red hot since the start of the new calendar year, but lately some early season issues appear to be returning to haunt the team. In the past 5 games, Florida has been struggling both on the power play and penalty kill. Going back to their game on January 29th against Montreal, the Panthers are 3-17 (17% success) on the power play and were goalless on PP opportunities in 3 of the 5 games. On the other side, the penalty kill has been poor lately as well. Since that same game, the Panthers have allowed 5 goals on 15 opportunities, a 33% success rate for their opponents. During that 5 game stretch the Panthers have allowed an average of 1 PP goal against per game.

Fixing special teams situations will be key if the Panthers are to make a serious run at the playoffs. That problem aside, the team is playing well they just aren’t always getting the desired results.