FORT LAUDERDALE — The Florida Panthers held their final practice before they resume their season coming out of the NHL’s Olympic break.
It could be one of their last real practices of the season.
With the way the rest of the season plays out, the Panthers will have little time for anything but games.
Florida has 25 left starting with Thursday’s matchup in Sunrise against the rival Toronto Maple Leafs.
The Panthers find themselves eight points out of the final playoff spot.
Many think the Panthers are done, their chances of defending the Stanley Cup championship for a third straight year kaput.
Only the Panthers themselves are not thinking that way.
As Paul Maurice said, the Panthers now have a finish line in sight.
There are 25 games left. They know what they have to do. No more tip-toeing around.
They need to win — and they need to do a lot of it.
Maurice considers this a 25-game playoff series — only one where they probably need to win 19 or 20 of those 25 games.
At 61 points, Florida may need to hit the 100-point mark to hope to get in.
So, how do the Panthers do it?
GET HEALTHIER
One of the bright spots of having a three-week break was it allowed the Panthers to get some of their injured players closer to playing.
On Wednesday, Dmitry Kulikov and Tomas Nosek were out of their no-contact jerseys and participated in the full practice. They could return at any time.
That’s good.
Seth Jones is also close to coming back after fracturing his collarbone during the Winter Classic. Jonah Gadjovich should be back before too long as well.
Getting players back will certainly help the Panthers moving forward.
What about Sasha Barkov?
He just passed the five-month mark since having major reconstructive surgery on his right knee — with a diagnosed return time of seven-nine months.
No one questions Barkov’s drive nor tolerance for pain, but the Panthers are not risking his future until he is fully healthy. That could be two months from now. Could be three. They do not know right now.
GOALIE TIME
Florida’s goaltending this season has been below-average although injuries have forced the Panthers to juggle the lineup and not be as strong defensively as they have before.
Both Sergei Bobrovsky and Daniil Tarasov have picked the wrong games to not play at their best.
There have been games where goaltending let the Panthers down. On the flip side, both goaltenders have been left out to dry by the Panthers.
Still, the Panthers like their goalie combination and still feel it can be a strength moving forward.
We’re not going to see Bobrovsky play 23 of 25 games as he would have 10 years ago in Columbus. He will likely get the big share of games — and the first of the six back-to-backs — but Tarasov is going to have to come up big when called upon.
This is a big opportunity for Tarasov to show he’s ready for prime time. He has showed flashes since coming to the Panthers, but they’re going to need his best just about every time he gets the chance to play.
Florida’s 3.33 goals allowed per game is seventh-highest in the NHL thus far.
SECONDARY SCORING
The Panthers have led offensively by their big guns, but that’s not going to be enough in a sprint to the finish line here.
Florida needs to get a lot more scoring punch out of its bottom 6 which includes Mackie Samoskevich who has six goals on 122 shots on goal. That’s a success-rate of just 4.9 percent which ranks 15th on the team.
The Panthers could also use some more scoring out of their defensemen; Florida’s 19 goals from its blueliners ranks tied for 28th in the NHL.
Jones, who has been out almost two months, leads the Panthers d-men with six goals. Aaron Ekblad is second with three, with Toby Bjornfot tied for third with two. Those came in the same game.
MAKE SHOTS COUNT
Coming into Wednesday, the Panthers are sixth in the NHL in goals-expected according to MoneyPuck.com at 185.72.
Only the Panthers have scored 170 — which ranks 19th.
Florida is getting plenty of opportunities, it just needs to put them in the back of the net.
ON DECK: GAME No. 58
TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS at FLORIDA PANTHERS
