The Florida Panthers’ regular season ends on April 6, but “Decision Time” could come on the night of Feb. 23 – if not a bit sooner.
After beating the visiting Vegas Golden Knights 3-1 on Saturday night, the Panthers (21-21-8, 50 points) are still a below-.500 club (counting the losses in overtime/shootouts). They are nine points out of the playoffs, and they have five teams to leapfrog to get that spot.
The Panthers have 32 games left in the regular season, and this was the part of the schedule when they got scorching hot last year. But GM Dale Tallon is not going to wait until April 6.