Panthers playing for the division tonight!

[Brian Fein]

Tonight, the Winnipeg Jets travel south to face off against the Florida Panthers.  The significance?  With a win tonight, the Florida Panthers can clinch their first division title in team history and their first playoff berth in 12 seasons.  This means they will be the #3 seed, and have home-ice advantage for the first round of the playoffs.

This is a long time coming for Panthers' fans.  And tonight's game is going to be sold out.

This is the beginning of the bandwagon in Florida hockey again?  No doubt the place will be packed to the rafters for the playoffs, filled with people who couldn't name more than one player on the team, and saying things like "when did we sign Theodore? He's good."  These are the worst kind of people in the world, and they permeate south Florida sports.

If they don't win tonight, they still have 2 more chances to accumulate 2 points in the standings.  An overtime loss tonight clinches playoffs but not the division.

The success of the Panthers this season (although they still have a long way to go still to hang with the league's elite) is thanks to Dale Tallon's keen sense of talent and attitude.  This is the first season which the Panthers didn't have any players who vocally didn't want to play here.  And it shows on the ice.

If you're going to the game tonight, give me a shout, I'll be there.  If you're not going, check it out on TV.

[SportsChick]

And to come full circle - today is Stephen Weiss' birthday. 10 years ago today he played in his first NHL game and scored his first goal. Tonight he can clinch his first playoff berth. GO CATS! WE SEE RED

[Dave Gray]

I will watch, probably.

[wyvernmcd]

I missed watching this game because I have been studying for the PE exam. I started studying when it was 3-0. When I finished studying for the night it was 4-3 Jets. What happened and why was Theo not pulled? Clemmer is the better goalie and I don't care if everyone laughs at me saying that.

If they lost to washington (probability is high for that one) and lose to carolina (possible) they could be out completely. Talk about carpet bombing an organization, if that happens I don't think anyone will go to games other than the opponents fans.

At this point it looks like Buffalo is the closest team to get a spot and they have the Flyers and the Bruins both away. Its possible they may not get wins against both of those teams but since they are locked, I don't think the Flyers and Bruins are putting their top line players out on the Ice.

Panthers may squeek in and that would make a lot of us happy but they really should have found any way they could to beat the Jets yesterday. That was just rough last night and I hope this is the turning point they use to rally as a team.

[Brian Fein]

People leaving the stadium were PISSED last night.  More so than I've ever seen.

Theo didn't play poorly, and I whole heartedly disagree that Clemmensen is better.  He's better in spots, but Theo is far more consistent. 

I think the Panthers will end up losing both of the next 2 in overtime, and back into the playoffs.  Then they will likely get bounced in the first round by the Devils.  While playoffs = progress, its not worth a damn if you can't compete for the cup.  Especially if it means losing (OT or otherwise) 9 of your last 10 games, 8 of which are against non-playoff teams.  If you can't come out of that stretch with 8 wins, how do you expect to get anywhere against Pittsburgh, Philly, Rangers, Boston, etc?

Last night's game was pathetic.  Spotted a 3 goal lead, they started playing "protect the lead" hockey, and straight fell apart.  Its disgusting.

[MaineDolFan]

Don't sleep on the Jets.  They are a good, scrappy team.

[wyvernmcd]

Don't sleep on the Jets.  They are a good, scrappy team.

Yeah, but they are mathematically out of any playoff shot. Probably next year for them

[wyvernmcd]

What happened and why was Theo not pulled? Clemmer is the better goalie and I don't care if everyone laughs at me saying that. 

Saw this season stats and Theodore is playing better than Clemmenson. My mistake, however to be honest when the team had the choice of Vokun and Anderson did you think you would have picked Anderson over Vokun (at that time)? I picked Anderson not Vokun.

[Brian Fein]

^^ Good point, and now looking at them, I'd take Anderson every day.

[tubba marxxx]

LET'S GO DEVILS!!!!



 

[MaineDolFan]

I think your Devils might up in in R1 with my boy Dineen's Panthers.  Should be a good match up.

[Brian Fein]

I hope you're right cause if the Panthers end up in 8 and have to face the Rangers, it'll be a quick first round for them.

[TonyB0D]

Devils gonna smoke the pussy cats!  JERSEY REPRESENT!