Coach Kevin Dineen couldn't watch. He was turned around with his head against the glass as Buffalo's Drew Stafford began his attempt in the 7th round of Saturday night's shootout. The outcome was clear as a bell. The Panthers won the shootout, which is rare in itself, but the Cats accomplished something even more rare than that.

The Panthers had won three games in a row on five different occasions this season. They failed to win the fourth each time. Until Saturday.

It had been since the last part of the 2007-2008 season that the Panthers had won four games in a row. Jacques Martin's squad inexplicably reeled off seven consecutive wins in a failed attempt to qualify for the playoffs.

Four years and a complete organizational overhaul later, the tune is much different. The Panthers now have a five point cushion in the Southeast Division over Washington, and seven over Winnipeg, with a game in hand on each. Most Panther fans, who have been groomed for failure and disappointment, must be pinching themselves as the shoe they've been waiting to drop is still high in the air.

Florida now has the longest winning streak in the NHL at the perfect time of year. They are getting healthier as Kris Versteeg and Dmitri Kulikov returned Saturday. Scottie Upshall, the 2nd highest paid forward on the team, may finally be back full time after two hernia surgeries. He should return over the next few games. It seemingly took forever, but the Panthers are close to being on all cylinders.

Interesting note about Kulikov's return. During the first intermission he said he was just trying to keep his shifts short and stay positionally sound. He mentioned he would be very careful about joining the offensive play so as to not sacrifice such positioning.

Once the shootout was in the 7th round and the bench was getting pretty thin, Kuli got the nod from Dineen. The move he put on Ryan Miller was shockingly forward-like. Miller was in the zone and was stopping all Panther shooters with relative ease. But the softness of Kuli's hands was on full display as he made a little juke move to the left before quickly getting the puck on his backhand and lifting it over the sprawling Miller.

All that was left was for Theodore to stop Stafford.

While Dineen could not watch, and understandably so, the rest of us had to. Like a train wreck, Panther fans have been mesmerized over the failures of this team. It is an impressive list of failures.

The majority of fans surely expected Stafford to score. But when Theodore stoned him, the feeling was surreal. A feeling that this run to the playoffs, and a division title, might just be more real than we can comprehend. Reversing over a decade of negativity can be quite daunting.

Twitter @DanSpiegel

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