Playoff opportunity knocking but Panthers aren't answering
Maybe the Florida Panthers should ask for a do-over.
Or at least start second-guessing themselves. This isn't a bad time for it because the Panthers are in the midst of a potentially season-ruining slide these days that began right after they decided to go all in at the trade deadline.
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| 'We've got to be a lot better as a group,' goaltender Tomas Vokoun says. (Getty Images) |
He won't deny that, but the Panthers still resisted the temptation to deal him because he is their best player in the midst of a strong season and they are real playoff contenders for the first time since the turn of the century. Getting there is critical to an organization struggling to attract fans, and keeping Bouwmeester, despite the risk of coming away empty-handed was supposed to send a vote of confidence to the players along with the message that the future is now.
But if the message was received, something apparently got lost in translation by a team that doesn't seem to have any real leaders in the dressing room or even a captain. Bouwmeester has been in a particular fog, making uncharacteristic defensive mistakes while producing only one assist. The upshot is that Florida, one of the league's hottest teams, going 16-7-3 in the two months leading to the deadline, has stalled since deciding to keep the lineup intact.
"Some nights we could easily get two points and didn't, then you lose a game and it gets magnified," said goaltender Tomas Vokoun. "It's such a fine line in this league between winning and losing, but we've got to be a lot better as a group."
Particularly on offense. The Panthers have only one 20-goal scorer in David Booth, but have stayed in contention largely because of their defense and ability to score by committee. Booth has still been finding the back of the net with some frequency lately, although the power play has all but disappeared in the last two weeks and the Panthers have often been outbattled at both ends. So even though Vokoun has been giving Florida chances to win games, the Panthers have dropped five of six since the deadline, including the last four in a row. In the process, they have fallen from being a middle-of-the-pack playoff seed to below the cutoff line.
"Good question," said Vokoun when asked if the pressure was getting to a team not used to being in a race. "Sometimes you're paralyzed from it, but you have to find a way because nobody is going to help us now. We have to be a whole lot more desperate, to play like it's the last game that decides if we get in or not. That's the key. It's just not something that's easy to do this time of year."
Not even at home where the Panthers were 18-7-6 when they began a crucial five-game homestand last weekend. Florida was looking to kick start the drive to the finish line in its own building, but things turned ugly quickly in the opener when the Panthers blew a two-goal lead with less than seven minutes remaining and lost a shootout and a crucial extra point to the lowly Tampa Bay Lightning. Florida followed that with another nose-pincher, managing only 19 shots, none in the third period, in a shutout loss Tuesday to the Capitals.
Washington had been roughed up the night before in Atlanta and was playing for the third time in four nights but had far more emotion on the ice, something that Panthers rookie coach Pete DeBoer admitted was a concern at this stage.
"It's pretty late in the season to try and address that, but if you can't look at the standings and create the kind of desperation for yourself, then I don't know," DeBoer said after the Washington loss. "I don't have an explanation for it because we're not going to beat anybody like that, but we don't have the luxury of feeling sorry for ourselves."
Or much time to get back on track. If there is a saving grace in all this for Florida, it is the 12 games it has remaining. That's two more than the Carolina Hurricanes, who now hold down the eighth and final playoff spot by a point over the Panthers. The Hurricanes visit to close out Florida's homestand next Monday, but first the Panthers will need some of their key players to step up in must-win situations against Toronto on Thursday and the Columbus Blue Jackets on Saturday.
"It's discouraging now because this is a bad time to sort of put this kind of streak together," said Bouwmeester said with a shrug. "But the sun is going to come up tomorrow and we gotta get ready for it."
Sounds urgent.
