Florida Panthers Tickets

The Florida Panthers are currently in second place in the Southeast Division but quickly falling further behind the first place Washington Capitals.

It certainly won't help that the Panthers have a brutal schedule upcoming, beginning with a home-and-home series against the Eastern Conference's best team: the Boston Bruins. They also have to play the Capitals and the New York Rangers, two more very tough games.

The Panthers have not played well against the Bruins in previous meetings this season, so that doesn't bode well for the start of the upcoming schedule.

General manager Jacques Martin certainly won't hesitate or be afraid to shake things up if he thinks it will benefit the team. He already put Wade Belak on waivers earlier in the year to make the point that he will put a popular, solid player on waviers because everyone is expendable.

Stephen Weiss leads the Panthers in points with 41 and assists with 31. David Booth is the leading goal scorer with 20 on the season.

The Panthers have received very solid goaltending from both goalies on their roster. Tomas Vokoun is giving up just 2.47 goals per game while saving more than 92 percent of the shots he has faced.

Backup Craig Anderson has been almost as effective, giving up just 2.49 goals per game with a save percentage just under 93. He also have the much better winning percentage, but the team continues to stick with Vokoun.

If the Panthers were to reach the playoffs, which is far from certain, having two high-caliber goaltenders will be a huge advantage.

The Panthers have to get there first, and a critical two-week period is upcoming against some of the Eastern Conference's top teams.

Florida has a solid offense and a strong defense anchored by two very capable goalies, so they would seem like a playoff-bound team. However, they will certainly run into resistance in the coming weeks from several other solid teams vying for those final few playoff spots.