Panthers Prowling

With such a long stretch of spectacular teams on the Panthers schedule, all lined up in a row, we all knew the fear was a long losing streak.

Visions of previous seasons, staring up at the playoff line in the month of March, still fresh in our memories.

However, the Panthers bounced back from a tough loss against Washington to defeat the New Jersey Devils, 4-0. In a game that wasn't quite as dominant as the score might indicate, Tomas Vokoun was brilliant and the big names all showed up on the scoreboard. Any night with Weiss, Horton, Stillman, and Zednik on the score sheet is a good one.

This game definitely produced one of my favorite quotes from the season thus far. They said on NHL On The Fly last night that, "this game was a measuring stick for the Florida Panthers and they took that measuring stick and bashed it over the heads of the New Jersey Devils."

I still can't believe we're talking about the Panthers. Not the Carolina Panthers. Not the Pittsburgh Panthers. Not even the Florida International Golden Panthers. The Florida freakin' Panthers!

My current thoughts:

-Have you ever had to face the decision of going to a game when sick? Add onto that the fact that it was after a school day, an hour drive from home, and a cold sporting event. I went, and I'm glad the Panthers justified my decision. But if I don't feel better, I won't be able to go tomorrow.

-Achoo.

-Enough about me, how about our boys?! Shutting out the second, make that third, best team in the East. Does anybody still want to play Washington over New Jersey if we make the playoffs?

- Anybody else still a little tentative about playing Boston two times in a row after tomorrow's game? I can't tell if I'm really nervous or if my Tylenol is wearing off.

-Tomorrow is quite the day, huh? We play, and so does Carolina, Pittsburgh, Montreal, and Buffalo. We could be anywhere from tied for 6th place with a 7 point playoff cushion, to alone in 8th with a 3 point edge.

Sorry for the few post game thoughts, but I'm glad that I was even able to write this. Hopefully the Cats can put up another huge effort tomorrow night, and take advantage of a team playing its 10th road game of their last 11 games played.

Panthers playoff chances (before tonight's results): 83.5% (Trending Up)

Playoffs or bust.