Florida Panthers Still Holding on After First Quarter of 2010/11 NHL Season
Posted 11/28/2010 - 09:06 by HockeyPolls
The revitalized Southeast division is becoming a tougher place to play every year. First it was Vincent Lecavalier and Martin St. Louis in Tampa Bay and then Eric Staal in Carolina. Now Washington has Alex Ovechkin, Alex Semin, Nicklas Backstrom and Mike Green. Even Atlanta has Evander Kane and Zach Bogosian. Now Tampa Bay has started to reload with the remarkable Steven Stamkos.
The Southeast has become a depository for some of the best young talent in the entire National Hockey League.
While that has been happening the Florida Panthers have plodded along, finishing low, drafting high and yet somehow not breaking out of their string of losing seasons.
This year the Panthers played their 20th game of the season versus the Boston Bruins and lost it 3-1 to finish 9-11 for the first quarter. They are currently last in their division and 12th in the Eastern Conference.
There is good news in this story, however. The Panthers are only five points away from third place in their division and a playoff spot. Florida is currently the best defensive team in the Southeast division. Their 57 goals against are nine fewer than the next-stingiest defense in the division, the Washington Capitals, have allowed. This tight defense puts them behind only Boston, Montreal, Columbus and Detroit in the entire NHL. They are tied with St. Louis for giving up the fifth-fewest goals in the league.
One scoring superstar could promote the Florida Panthers out of the NHL basement and into the upper echelon of NHL clubs.
