Panthers have had a great season. Something tells me we aren't going to recover from this game and lose on Thursday. We've been a cursed organization and I don't think our time is now. Devils have the edge and if they come out storming and take the lead in game 7 don't expect this team to come back, they would be finished at that point.

Hope we win, please prove me wrong and actually pull this off.

Go Panthers!
- Gudbranson2012

Awesome post by the perennial flip-flopper! "Thanks for a great season, have a nice summer----BUT, GO PANTHERS!"

Come on Panthers. Two southeast teams to advance.

Come on Panthers. Two southeast teams to advance.
- jsg0173

It's only a matter of time before the SE owns the EC

It's only a matter of time before the SE owns the EC
- Crazycaboose

i dont see that happening any time soon

i dont see that happening any time soon
- dmarsden2988

I don't see why not the caps are a good team. The cats are getting better and we barely have tapped into our tops picks. Next we have canes if you tell me they arnt a good team your crazy I don't know what happened this year but they have a good team. And lastly you have the jets even thou they wont last in the SE for long they could be a good team but we'll see.

I don't see why not the caps are a good team. The cats are getting better and we barely have tapped into our tops picks. Next we have canes if you tell me they arnt a good team your crazy I don't know what happened this year but they have a good team. And lastly you have the jets even thou they wont last in the SE for long they could be a good team but we'll see.
- Crazycaboose

Don't forget the Bolts. Once they have a goalie nailed down and another d-man or two, watch out.

Come on Panthers. Two southeast teams to advance.
- jsg0173

How great would it be if the Panthers and Caps advanced to the ECF in a season in which the Atlantic dominated and some were saying the SE didn't deserve to have a representative in the playoffs.

I don't see why not the caps are a good team. The cats are getting better and we barely have tapped into our tops picks. Next we have canes if you tell me they arnt a good team your crazy I don't know what happened this year but they have a good team. And lastly you have the jets even thou they wont last in the SE for long they could be a good team but we'll see.
- Crazycaboose

the rangers, flyers and pens are all pretty much locks for the playoffs for the next bunch of years, the devils will be in the run for the playoffs and finished 8pts ahead of florida

so for the next few years the atlantic will most likely have 4 teams in the playoffs, and buffalo will make the playoffs from the NE as well as boston

so that leaves 2 spots and ottowa is getting much better

It's only a matter of time before the SE owns the EC
- Crazycaboose

Its going to be a long time. Maybe even longer than its going to take for my team to make the playoffs(figured I'd beat you to the punch).

It's only a matter of time before the SE owns the EC
- Crazycaboose

I LOLed.

I LOLed.
- Jeffrey7146

Yeah, it was pretty funny but what I found especially funny about this post was who cares? If my team was in the SE conference why would I care if the rest of the conference was doing great? Who gives a (frank)? I'd only care if they were competing against my team

the rangers, flyers and pens are all pretty much locks for the playoffs for the next bunch of years, the devils will be in the run for the playoffs and finished 8pts ahead of florida

so for the next few years the atlantic will most likely have 4 teams in the playoffs, and buffalo will make the playoffs from the NE as well as boston

so that leaves 2 spots and ottowa is getting much better
- dmarsden2988

The Atlantic will always have the advantage of closer opponents. Less miles equals less wear and tear from traveling over the full 82 game schedule. When your division road game is a 10 mile (NJ to NYI) bus ride versus and an 1800 mile flight (FLA-WIN) then you have an inherent advantage regardless of talent levels. This year the Panthers had nearly double the travel miles of the Devils.

I seriously hope they do not realign Florida and Tampa into a grouping with the North East division. Way too much travel for division games. Much better to take Dallas, Nashville, Carolina, Tampa and Florida to make a better geographical division than just slapping us onto the NE division.

The Atlantic will always have the advantage of closer opponents. Less miles equals less wear and tear from traveling over the full 82 game schedule. When your division road game is a 10 mile (NJ to NYI) bus ride versus and an 1800 mile flight (FLA-WIN) then you have an inherent advantage regardless of talent levels. This year the Panthers had nearly double the travel miles of the Devils.

I seriously hope they do not realign Florida and Tampa into a grouping with the North East division. Way too much travel for division games. Much better to take Dallas, Nashville, Carolina, Tampa and Florida to make a better geographical division than just slapping us onto the NE division.
- Rat-a-Holic

travel has nothing to do with the strengths of the teams in this case, lets say that all travel was the same for each team, the records would be pretty much the same as they were anyways

the atlantic is known to be the toughest division in the east and can be argued league with the central due to the strengths of the teams

travel has nothing to do with the strength of divisions in the east, you put any of the top 4 in atlantic they would be 1st in any other division if they played in it, other than maybe devils in NE due to boston

The Atlantic will always have the advantage of closer opponents. Less miles equals less wear and tear from traveling over the full 82 game schedule. When your division road game is a 10 mile (NJ to NYI) bus ride versus and an 1800 mile flight (FLA-WIN) then you have an inherent advantage regardless of talent levels. This year the Panthers had nearly double the travel miles of the Devils.

I seriously hope they do not realign Florida and Tampa into a grouping with the North East division. Way too much travel for division games. Much better to take Dallas, Nashville, Carolina, Tampa and Florida to make a better geographical division than just slapping us onto the NE division.
- Rat-a-Holic

So you're saying Winnipeg would have finished ahead of you if they didn't have to travel so much?

travel has nothing to do with the strengths of the teams in this case, lets say that all travel was the same for each team, the records would be pretty much the same as they were anyways

the atlantic is known to be the toughest division in the east and can be argued league with the central due to the strengths of the teams

travel has nothing to do with the strength of divisions in the east, you put any of the top 4 in atlantic they would be 1st in any other division if they played in it, other than maybe devils in NE due to boston
- dmarsden2988

I don't really see a counter argument in your post. How can 5+ hours of additional travel be ignored? How can an extra 25K miles be ignored? Tired teams do not play at their peak levels. When the Devils travel over 50k and the Panthers travel half that then we can draw a comparison.

The Atlantic being the toughest partly comes from their cushy inter-division travel. When it takes less than 1000 linear miles to visit each of your division opponents from your home arena (NJ to PIT/PHI/NYI/NYR) while just visiting one opponent (WIN) is over 1800 miles for the other team, then you are choosing to ignore facts.

How do you feel after a 30 minute bus ride versus a 6 hour flight? You want to argue that the impact, while it exists, is lessened by the superior fitness of the players, then fine we can debate that. But to ignore the fact that it exists just sounds stupid.

So you're saying Winnipeg would have finished ahead of you if they didn't have to travel so much?
- Jeffrey7146

Quite possibly. They had on of the worst travel schedules out of anyone. They certainly would have finished better than they did.

I don't really see a counter argument in your post. How can 5+ hours of additional travel be ignored? How can an extra 25K miles be ignored? Tired teams do not play at their peak levels. When the Devils travel over 50k and the Panthers travel half that then we can draw a comparison.

The Atlantic being the toughest partly comes from their cushy inter-division travel. When it takes less than 1000 linear miles to visit each of your division opponents from your home arena (NJ to PIT/PHI/NYI/NYR) while just visiting one opponent (WIN) is over 1800 miles for the other team, then you are choosing to ignore facts.

How do you feel after a 30 minute bus ride versus a 6 hour flight? You want to argue that the impact, while it exists, is lessened by the superior fitness of the players, then fine we can debate that. But to ignore the fact that it exists just sounds stupid.
- Rat-a-Holic

there was no need for a counter argument, travel is a weak excuse to begin with especially in the east. Travel doesnt effect the record significantly and these are professional athletes who get top service, and they fly in business class like seats

but in either case its not going to have a major impact on the record, the atlantic would still be the toughest division by far if all travel was equal

I don't really see a counter argument in your post. How can 5+ hours of additional travel be ignored? How can an extra 25K miles be ignored? Tired teams do not play at their peak levels. When the Devils travel over 50k and the Panthers travel half that then we can draw a comparison.

The Atlantic being the toughest partly comes from their cushy inter-division travel. When it takes less than 1000 linear miles to visit each of your division opponents from your home arena (NJ to PIT/PHI/NYI/NYR) while just visiting one opponent (WIN) is over 1800 miles for the other team, then you are choosing to ignore facts.

How do you feel after a 30 minute bus ride versus a 6 hour flight? You want to argue that the impact, while it exists, is lessened by the superior fitness of the players, then fine we can debate that. But to ignore the fact that it exists just sounds stupid.
- Rat-a-Holic

The Vancouver Canucks have won the presidents trophy and I think they have the second most travel miles of any team (Edmonton probably ahead). BS excuse. The southeast is weak because their teams are weak. No other explanation neeeded.

The Vancouver Canucks have won the presidents trophy and I think they have the second most travel miles of any team (Edmonton probably ahead). BS excuse. The southeast is weak because their teams are weak. No other explanation neeeded.
- rmdevil313

The nucks division is the weakest when they get to play last place all the time and the others in their division they are going to look a lot better!

The nucks division is the weakest when they get to play last place all the time and the others in their division they are going to look a lot better!
- Crazycaboose

the NW and SE are both weak divisions.......

The nucks division is the weakest when they get to play last place all the time and the others in their division they are going to look a lot better!
- Crazycaboose

Thank you for proving my point. The west has also been the better conference pretty much since the lockout and they have probably double the travel time of eastern conference teams. The Red Wings have to travel through the most time zones yet they are always a premier team. Travel is a BS excuse.

there was no need for a counter argument, travel is a weak excuse to begin with especially in the east. Travel doesnt effect the record significantly and these are professional athletes who get top service, and they fly in business class like seats

but in either case its not going to have a major impact on the record, the atlantic would still be the toughest division by far if all travel was equal
- dmarsden2988

A statement made all the easier to boast because travel is always much less for Atlantic teams. You can't claim equality when equality never exists. Bottom line, you travel less, it has an impact, to what degree (negligible, slight or greater) is debatable, but it exists.

A statement made all the easier to boast because travel is always much less for Atlantic teams. You can't claim equality when equality never exists. Bottom line, you travel less, it has an impact, to what degree (negligible, slight or greater) is debatable, but it exists.
- Rat-a-Holic

None of us play on the teams so none of us have any idea what the toll is. But most of these players were on 10 hour bus rides regularly since they were 16. I really don't think a 6 hour flight flying top class is all that degrading. I also find it unlikely teams would want to start their seasons in Europe if it was that important.

A statement made all the easier to boast because travel is always much less for Atlantic teams. You can't claim equality when equality never exists. Bottom line, you travel less, it has an impact, to what degree (negligible, slight or greater) is debatable, but it exists.
- Rat-a-Holic

explain detroit, nashville, vancouver

the SE is a weak division there really is no way around it, the atlantic is full of strong teams that beat each other up with more intense rivalries

travel is a weak excuse no matter which way you look at it, if you want to say the florida panthers have to travel to winnipeg to play, well those games are much less intense then a rangers/flyers game, a flyers/pens game, a devils/rangers game etc which all are hard hitting

the atlantic division beats each other up

you can ask anyone that the 2 weakest divisions are the NW and SE even when travel isnt equated into the picture

Thank you for proving my point. The west has also been the better conference pretty much since the lockout and they have probably double the travel time of eastern conference teams. The Red Wings have to travel through the most time zones yet they are always a premier team. Travel is a BS excuse.
- rmdevil313

The Red Wing management and fans cite travel as a significant enough factor such that it gets discussed during playoff times when they had to travel out west for each series against Coyotes/Sharks the past two years. Why do you think it is a priority for Detroit to get back to the Eastern conference? Because they know first hand the travel is a factor. If NJ had a series with NYI that went 7 games and FLA had a series with WIN that went 7 games would you be able to argue, with a straight face, that travel is not a factor in performance?

The West has been the best conference, no argument there, yet pretty much everyone out there suffers under the same conditions with few teams bunched up geographically. In the East you have the Atlantic and Northeast bunched up where travel has less impact. Geography is not debatable.