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Florida Panthers: Tonight can make or break their season

April 3, 2018, 4:59 PM ET [7 Comments]
Mark Paul
Florida Panthers Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
Everyone of importance regarding the Florida Panthers chances at a playoff spot face-off tonight for what could result in a glimmer of hope, or the end of a late season run.

The aspect under Panthers control is their bout with the Western Conference heavyweight Nashville Predators. The Preds come into Sunrise, FL looking to lock up home ice advantage through the first three rounds with a win. In the corner, this is the biggest game of the season for Florida. A loss tonight will almost certainly result in elimination.

The Florida Panthers are five points back of the New Jersey Devils with a single game in hand. The Devils take on a New York Rangers team that only has pride on the line as they threw in the towel months ago. It's fair to assume that the Devils are favored in this game, making it all the more necessary for the Panthers to do the unexpected and beat Nashville tonight.

Any combination of a Devils win and a Florida loss in regulation will clinch a playoff spot for New Jersey.

That would leave Florida only Columbus and Philadelphia who would both only need one extra point coupled with a Panthers loss.

Tonight is an absolute must-win game for the Panthers. Roberto Luongo played last night against Carolina, but James Reimer has dropped his last two starts. Even at 5:00pm EST it's still unknown exactly who will start for the Florida. Whomever it is, they need to have their best game of the season.

Aleksander Barkov and Vincent Trocheck have played insane amount of minutes this season, Keith Yandle has found his game, Aaron Ekblad looks like the first overall pick Florida thought he'd be and Evgeny Dadonov has proven he was the best player playing outside of the NHL last season. The Panthers have shown an ability to compete when the pressure is off, now we'll find out how legitimate their run was now that all the pressure is on.
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