Seven Days: Florida (Atlantic - 4th)

The Florida Panthers started hot and have since cooled. The last few years I have hoped they would get in the playoffs. They have a lot of the pieces and good youth. The tough three games ahead could be pivotal. (But it's only THREE games...I know I know...always time to recover. Always measuring how the teams play, I guess.)

Offense:
Vincent Trocheck keeps producing - he is a surprise to me. Jaromir Jagr continues to climb the record books, now holding tenth spot for games played - ahead of retired Niklas Lidstrom - Detroit's great defenseman.

Defense:

Aaron Ekblad might be returning to the form that made him such a stand-out last season. A very good thing, if so. They aren't bad on defense. This week someone will have to step up for Dmitri Kulikov being down.

Goalies:
Roberto Luongo playing as solid as ever. Al Montoya might not get a start in one of these.

Next Seven:
Thursday Anaheim visits
Saturday New York Rangers visit
Monday Los Angeles visits

They really need to beat Anaheim to set this seven up properly. Lose that and getting points from the Rangers and Kings will seem monumental.

2pts

Last Seven:
Win 4 - 3 OT Calgary
Loss 2 - 3 Buffalo
Win 5 - 4 (SO) at Tampa bay
Win 1 - 0 Tampa Bay

Some really good wins in there. A good turnaround after losing 8 of the prior 10.

Injuries:
Dmitri Kulikov will miss some games. He logs a good minutes for this Panther defense.

seven days Nov. 10th - 16th