The Florida Panthers suddenly have some giddy up in their step after a surprising turnaround to what was a painful 0-3-1 homestand last week. They lost their grip on first place, and were walking a fragile line of being out of the top eight in the Eastern Conference.

With under 7 minutes left in the third and down 2-0 to Carolina Saturday night, the Panthers were looking at five consecutive losses and a possible tailspin at exactly the wrong time of the season. What happened next was nothing short of remarkable, if not simply the biggest win of the season.

Tomas Fleischmann scored at the 13:58 mark of the third on a sweet cross-ice pass from Kris Versteeg to make things interesting, but the unlikely hero was the newest Panther. As in only being a Panther for 7 hours.

GM Dale Tallon added two quality depth forwards Friday and Saturday in Jerred Smithson from Nashville(for a 6th in 2012) and Wojtek Wolski. Wolski was acquired from the Rangers around noon Saturday for minor league defenseman Mike Vernace and a 2013 third rounder. Like Smithson's situation in Nashville, Wolski was squeezed out of the Rangers lineup because of a numbers game. It also took him most of the season to recover from sports hernia surgery. It is safe to say their ice time is about to increase.

Wolski scored the tying goal with 1:47 left, surprising Hurricanes goaltender Justin Peters with a wicked wrista from the slot. The game eventually ended up in a shootout, where the Panthers are notoriously pitiful. However, Mikael Samuelsson and Stephen Weiss scored to give the Panthers a most improbable win, and one that just might be looked back on at the end of the year as the game that turned those frowns upside down for the playoff push.

The Canadiens were waiting for the Panthers in South Florida as they squared off the next day in an early Sunday start. It looked as if the Panthers were skating in quicksand as Montreal was all over them jumping out to a 2-0 lead in the first seven minutes.

But on a day when Stephen Weiss was honored with a very classy tribute video before the game for setting the all-time franchise games played record(614), the team-captain-to-be came through with 2 goals and an assist. The Panthers finally got their legs under them and dominated the final 50 minutes of the game, scoring four unanswered goals, sending the horrible Canadiens to their fourth straight loss and six out of the last seven.

Just when it started to look bleak and that "here we go again" feeling started to vibrate through Panther Nation last week, the team responded with two resounding wins that have them back in first place in the Southeast with 70 points and three games in hand on the second place Jets. Who knows where the morale and playoff chances would be with this team if the losing streak had reached six.

The Cats are back on the road for two huge games against the Leafs and Jets before returning home for a two games against Nashville and Ottawa.

Marco Sturm should be close to returning, and Marcel Goc and Kris Versteeg are day to day. Once Dmitri Kulikov returns in a few weeks the squad should FINALLY be at full strength for the stretch run. In fact, they will have too many players. Won't that be a nice change for coach Kevin Dineen to have to deal with who has dealt with more adversity than any other coach regarding injuries.

Twitter @DanSpiegel

Join the Discussion: » 22 Comments » Post New Comment

» Goodbye To Hockeybuzz

» Aleksander Barkov Finally Gets His Due

» Marchessault Stings

» Are The Panthers A Tease?

» The Legacy Jagr Left Behind...