Florida Panthers Clinch Top 3 Division Finish; First Round Opponent Yet to be Determined
The Florida Panthers will avoid falling to a wild card spot after the Ottawa Senators failed to defeat the Philadelphia Flyers in regulation.
Editor’s Note: PucksAndPalms.com published a now-deleted story in error following the conclusion of the Toronto-Carolina game. That game did not clinch The Maple Leafs the Atlantic Division and determine Florida’s playoff opponent.
The Florida Panthers will not have to worry about falling into a wild card spot.
By virtue of an Ottawa Senators overtime win over the Philadelphia Flyers on Sunday, Florida has clinched a Top 3 finish in the Atlantic Division standings. Ottawa needed to win its remaining three games going into Sunday and it failed to do so.
The Panthers (47-29-4; 98 points) will officially not be in contention to repeat as Atlantic Division champions. They are locked into either the No. 2 or the No. 3 seed after the Toronto Maple Leafs (50-26-4; 104 points) defeated the Carolina Hurricanes on Sunday.
Who their opponent will be has yet to be determined.
The Tampa Bay Lightning (46-26-8; 100 points) kept their Atlantic Division title hopes alive with a win over the Buffalo Sabres on Sunday night.
Tampa Bay sits four points behind Toronto for first place in the division with each team having two games remaining. The Lightning would need to win its final two games and the Maple Leafs would need to lose both of their final two games in regulation.
Both teams are idle until Tuesday. Toronto will play on the road in Buffalo while Tampa Bay will host the Panthers.
Both Florida and Tampa Bay finish their regular season slate with a match-up with each other and with the New York Rangers. Florida plays New York at home while the Lighting will finish its regular season at Madison Square Garden on Thursday.
For Florida to jump to the No. 2 seed, and have home ice in the first round, it would need to defeat Lightning and earn at least a point on Monday against New York and Tampa Bay would need to lose its final two games.
Florida can go 1-0-1 — if the overtime or shootout loss happens on Monday against the Rangers — and still finish second in the division if the Lightning lose both of its final two games in regulation.
If the Panthers go 2-0-0, they could lock up home ice in a playoff series with a combination of an overtime loss and a regulation loss from Tampa Bay. Essentially, if Florida wins on Monday and defeats the Lightning in regulation on Tuesday, a Tampa Bay loss in any fashion would get it done.