This is HUGE for the Florida Panthers... MAJOR Panthers Updates | Florida Panthers News

This is huge for the Florida Panthers. They don't have one player but two up for a major award this season. I will tell you who those two players are and what the award is. And with only four games left in the regular season, the Panthers look to win out and move up in the Atlantic Division and have home ice advantage in the first round of the playoffs. And there's one player who has been MIA for weeks. There's some good news on his return. I will tell you who that is and when he will return. All of that coming up on Panthers Digest. And guys, click that subscribe button down below because you know you need to stay in the know with injuries, news, pre and post game analysis, anything and everything that has to do with your defending Stanley Cup champion, Florida Panthers. Don't stay in the dark, guys. Click that subscribe button. So this is the trophy that is on the line. That's the Frank J. Selke Trophy. Best defensive forward in the league. Who do you think those two guys are? Well, I'll tell you. That's number one. He's not in first place, but I'm bringing him up because he needs to get recognition for his defensive prowess this year. He has stepped up his game, especially on special teams. He's been putting his body on the line and blocking shots. His forward checking has improved and he's a special teams guy now. He's been able to stop a lot, a lot of big time plays when they are down a man. And he's also getting scrappier in those corners. And he's shown his ability to four check. And it's just been such an improvement this year for him. And we're going to see that moving forward in the next few years. It's not just going to be him on offense and kicking butt there, guys. He's also going to step up that defensive game. But the guy we're going to talk about right now, Alexander Barkov. He's a two-time Selke Award winner. And for all the right reasons. His ability to four check, get in the passing and shooting lanes. His ability to control the puck on offense and defense. His special teams awareness as well is hands down one of the best in the league. That's why he's won it twice. You can see here, 34 takeaways. He still puts up some decent numbers on offense. But his ability to four check. To poke check. To just take the puck away from literally anybody. The best in the league. He has the ability to do it. It is absolutely incredible what he's capable of doing. So this team has these two guys. And it's a really shining bright spot at the end of the season. Where they had a little bit of an issue with that losing streak. But man, they should turn things around in the next week. We should hope. And this is the reason why. Right now, we have to look at their schedule. They've got Detroit tonight. Then Buffalo. Then the Rangers. And then they finish out the season with Tampa Bay. That's going to be the biggest game to look at. Is the Tampa Bay Lightning game. I think things are going to come down to that game. It's going to be whoever wins that game is going to have homeless advantage in the series. And that is what it's looking like right now. Is it's going to be Florida versus Tampa Bay in the first round. Barring something happening with the Toronto Maple Leafs. And they just completely collapsed at the end of the season here. This is what it's looking like right now for a first round matchup. So they need to really play well tonight. And in their last game, which we'll go over a little bit later. The Toronto Maple Leafs, they looked a lot stronger. They don't have their full roster back yet. But they looked healthier. They looked faster. They looked like the chemistry was back to where it was weeks ago. When they had their six-game winning streak. They just looked like a better team. So thinking of that injury report. Excuse me. That injury report. Well, this is it. It shrank considerably from several days ago. Where there were seven guys on this report. You can see Carter Verhage. But that's not to worry. That is a rest maintenance day for him. So he will be back. They're just resting him. He needs it. He's kind of been a shell of himself the last few games. He has been around. You've seen him on the ice. But he hasn't really contributed like he used to. If you think back to last season. When they won the Stanley Cup. And his ability to put the puck in the back of the net. He's had a little bit of trouble doing that this year. But he needs that rest. And again, Paul Maurice is a genius. When it comes to, you know what? This is the position we're in right now. And we could afford to rest guys. Yes, I'd rather have our guys. Sorry, not rest. But get them healthy for that first round of the playoffs. Because that's a lot scarier for other teams. Is to face a completely healthy Florida Panthers team. So as we look at tonight's game. Against the Detroit Red Wings. There is a little bit of trepidation here. Because the Panthers are 0-2 against them. And they've been outscored 7-3. In those games. These are the stats from their first game. You could see the Panthers on the stat sheet. Controlled the game. But they just couldn't stop Detroit. From scoring for some reason. I don't know why that is. I mean if you look at the numbers here. Oh wait, it's pretty glaringly obvious. Look, it's the power play. They gave up three power play goals guys. They allowed the Red Wings to have 75% on their power play. When you do that, of course you're going to lose. Of course you're going to lose. We'll go to game number two. Got a little bit closer. Except for the hits. The one thing I want to show you guys here. Again, that power play. They gave up another power play goal to this team. Lot of penalties for the Panthers. Giveaways were pretty even. But this one was a little bit closer than people thought. But still, the Panthers have had their problems with the Red Wings. But hopefully they will fix that tonight. Again, they've rested players. They've gotten them healthy. They're back on the ice. That's why that injury report shrank so much. And they did look great in their last game against the Toronto Maple Leafs. So as things stand right now. Panthers are in third place. Three points back of the lightning. Because they actually lost in overtime against the Toronto Maple Leafs. And the Maple Leafs obviously six points ahead. If you know how to do math. Six points ahead right now. But again, like something dramatic has to happen to the Leafs team. For them to not win the Atlantic Division right now. So the matchup is going to be Panthers versus Tampa Bay. And the Panthers hope to maybe. Maybe win out. And cross their fingers. That the lightning. Have some way that they will collapse in a couple of games. And that they can catch them in that last game. I'm telling you. It's going to come down to the Panthers probably. Probably being one point back. And it's going to come down to that last game in Tampa Bay guys. And it's going to be one to watch. I'm telling you. That's going to be playoff game zero. Not playoff game number one. Playoff game zero. So this is the mentality for a lot of the Panthers players as things sit today. This is what Nico Micola said. What they're trying to do is. They just want to make sure that chemistry is getting back together. They want to make sure they're playing really good hockey. Playoff hockey now. They don't want to wait. And that's one of the reasons why Paul Maurice is like. We need our guys to be healthy. We don't care about where we are in the standings. We just want to be healthy. So in game one, we have our full roster back. Every line that we have could be line one. That could be our big time top line. Every line is going to be dangerous. That's what he wants. And that is what they're going to give other teams. A formidable, very formidable line on each one. First, second, third, fourth lines. They're all going to be incredibly dangerous. And Mackie Samoskiewicz, the rookie who's having a great year. He's probably a top eight rookie this year. And man, does he have a bright future with this team? You could see here in his quote. He just said he just wants to make sure that they're doing the things that they're supposed to do so that way they could win in the playoffs. And they're going to perfect that. I'm telling you, if you look at the game on Tuesday night. Tuesday night against the Toronto Maple Leafs. It was one heck of a game where the Panthers just dominated the game. I mean, if you want to talk about this and really lay it on there where, hey, the Panthers ran away with it. And they did. They really did. The numbers speak for themselves. Look at it. Florida had 37 shots to the 18 for Toronto. Excuse me, 32. 43 hits to 29. 69% face-off percentage winning to the 31 for the Maple Leafs. And then giveaways. Toronto had 18 to Florida 7. So if things go well for this team, they could catch Tampa Bay. But they are going to need to play really solid hockey. And hopefully the injury bug will not nip them in the bud before that game. And right now it doesn't look like it's going to happen because everybody's getting healthy. You saw the injury report before. They should be ready to rock and roll for game one of the playoffs. So the good news that I was trying to tell you guys is this. Aaron Ekblad. He has been cleared by the NHL and the NHLPA to do all team activities. Now he's not going to be in the lineup. But the reason why this is fantastic news for the Panthers is it is really difficult. Really difficult for a player to come back after missing so much time and not being able to do any team activities. Shake off the rust. Now that he's able to do that with a little bit more or less of a week until the playoffs begin. Get him back on the ice. Get him practicing with the squad. Get him in the training room. Get him back to his playing prowess. That amazing defensive player that he is. Get him back to that. So they can throw him back into the lineup and he's ready to go in game three. Not one or two because he still has to serve the suspension. Those first two games will count towards it. So he should be back in game three, guys. So the Panthers do have their work cut out for him for the end of the season. They hopefully need to win out those games, move up the standings, and beat the Tampa Bay Lightning in the last game of the season to control and have home ice advantage in round one of the playoffs. As it stands right now, well, Tampa has the easier schedule. The Florida Panthers have a little bit tougher of one. But it's going to make for some very exciting hockey to finish the season. Watch that last game and tell me I'm wrong when I say. That is going to probably be the game of the regular season. Because it's going to be scrappy. It's going to have that feeling like it is a playoff game already because it technically will be. That's game one. It's not going to be a seven-game series. It might be an eight-game series for these guys. Because like I said, game zero for them. Well, join me next time, guys. And don't forget to click that subscribe button down below. I'm your host, Greg Andrews. And join me next time. We're going to talk about more news. We're going to talk about their win or loss to Detroit tonight. Hopefully, it will be a win. We'll go over the injury report again, as well as other rumors that are kind of swirling about some of the players. Are they going to rest more? And if they do end up losing this game, will that be the right move for Paul Maurice to do? Start to really rest more of the other guys. Maybe pull Bobrovsky out of net and let him take a couple of games off. Because he is starting tonight in net. So guys, join me next time. I will see you guys soon. Enjoy the game this evening. And go Panthers!