Panthers ‘hungry’ for more after clinching playoff berth for 5th straight season

SUNRISE, Fla. – This season, there was no question. No doubt. No surprise.

Whereas it took until the final days of the 2022-23 regular season for the Florida Panthers to punch their ticket to the Stanley Cup Playoffs -- before embarking on a run that would take them to the Stanley Cup Final -- this season it was long assured. The Panthers, who spent the season battling the Boston Bruins for the top spot in the Atlantic Division, were a lock.

But even as the Panthers clinched their fifth straight trip to the postseason on Thursday, their postgame dressing room wasn’t exactly overflowing with joy. The coach, Paul Maurice, said he didn’t feel like talking about it and their stars were muted.

“I appreciate the questions and I’m just a grumpy old man,” Maurice said. “So I’ll answer them all them all tomorrow. I don’t feel like talking about good things right now.”

They got their berth after the Detroit Red Wings lost to the Carolina Hurricanes, after they themselves had lost 3-2 to the New York Islanders on Thursday at Amerant Bank Arena. It was their sixth loss in seven games and second straight.

Still, seeing that “X” next to the Panthers in the standings has to be nice, doesn’t it?

“It absolutely is,” defenseman Aaron Ekblad said. “It would have been nice to get the win and see that X, obviously we knew that could have been a scenario.

“But anytime you see that, you have to look back on the accomplishments of the year and the accomplishment of making the playoffs is no easy task. We had a stretch here where it was extremely difficult. The buy-in in the system and the guys in this room deserve to enjoy a little bit of that credit.”

Last season, the Panthers clinched their spot in the playoffs on April 11 when the Buffalo Sabres and Pittsburgh Penguins lost. They had one game remaining on their schedule before heading into the Eastern Conference First Round. This season, there are nine left, a time to get their game in order, to get a little rest, to ready themselves for a yet-undetermined first-round opponent.

“Last year it came before the last game of the season, so now we have a little breathing room here,” said captain Aleksander Barkov, who notched his 700th career point in the loss. “But of course, we know we have a lot of work to do and we need to be a little better, better than the last few games, for sure.”

The Panthers have made the postseason in five straight years, starting with an appearance in the NHL Qualifying Round in 2019-20. Prior to this run, the franchise had never made the playoffs in more than two consecutive seasons.

Which is worth celebrating.

“It’s hard to stay in the playoffs,” Maurice had said before the game. “We’re at [five]. It’s hard to do. When you’re making the playoffs, you think, well, you should make the playoffs every year. Just do it, right? Just play your game. It’s hard to do.”

The Panthers have cemented themselves among the League’s best over the past five seasons. Only five teams have longer active playoff appearance streaks than the Panthers: the Bruins (8, including clinching this season), the Toronto Maple Leafs (7), the Colorado Avalanche (6), the Tampa Bay Lightning (6), the Carolina Hurricanes (6, including this season) and now, the Panthers (5).

They have worked hard to get here. But the work, they know, is far from over.

“Every game is building towards playoffs, even Game 1 in the regular season is like that,” Barkov said. “But now that we’re getting close to that time, we’re just excited about that. But we’ve got to remember that we need to have our best every game before that too.”

This is a team that knows what it needs to succeed in the playoffs, having made it to the Final last season before losing to the Vegas Golden Knights in five games. This is a team that knows how razor-thin the margin was between them losing to the Bruins in their seven-game first-round series last season and being one of the two final teams standing.

“The goal is to finish as high as we possibly can and secure home-ice advantage throughout the playoffs,” Ekblad said. “On top of that, building a game for the playoffs is something I just heard ‘Barky’ say [we’ve been doing] since Game 1. So it’s something we’re going to continue to do for those last nine games and clean up anything we need to.”

There are nine games left for the Panthers before the playoffs. There are 22 days before the playoffs start.

The Panthers know, better than anyone, how much the playoffs demand.

“We’re a hungry team,” forward Sam Bennett said. “We had a taste of it. We were right there and came up a little short. We want it badly. I think every guy in this locker room is dying for that chance to win. We’re definitely a group that’s going to do whatever it takes.”