The Countdown is On ... Lineup Remains the Same ... Friday: Atlanta Thrashers @ Florida Panthers

Well, the countdown has begun.

The Florida Panthers have five games left in this regular season and remain one point out of the playoffs.

Coach Pete DeBoer said today that nothing is changing in the lineup (shocking) as Florida prepares to play Atlanta on Friday night at the Billboard.

The 'lowly' Thrashers have won three straight and may have ended Buffalo's postseason bid on Wednesday. Panthers swear they are not taking the Thrash lightly. And they better not.

-- Doing a story for tomorrow's Miami Herald on the race to the finish. Spoke to a number of players about this, and they all seem to have their eyes on the prize. They aren't looking ahead; only looking at Atlanta. They can worry about the Penguins later.

-- Bad news in Tampa as Vinny Lecavalier will miss the rest of the season as he undergoes wrist surgery on Friday in Philly. Bad end to a bad season on the Bay. The three Bs. Could be a new slogan for the Bolts.

-- Looking Ahead

The Road to the Playoffs

No. 6 Carolina 91 (plays Rangers tonight)

Five remaining (four home, one away)

Playoff teams remaining*: Four

Vs. Rangers; Vs. Pittsburgh; Vs. Islanders; Vs. Buffalo; At New Jersey

No. 7 Rangers 89 (plays Carolina tonight)

Five remaining (two home, three away)

Playoff teams remaining: Five

At Carolina; At Boston; Vs. Montreal; Vs. Philadelphia; At Philadelphia

No. 8 Montreal 88 (plays Islanders tonight)

Six remaining (two home, four away)

Playoff teams remaining: Three

At Islanders; At Toronto; Vs. Ottawa; At Rangers; At Boston; Vs. Pittsburgh

No. 9 Florida 87

Five remaining (three home, two away)

Playoff teams remaining: Three

Vs. Atlanta; Vs. Pittsburgh; At Philadelphia; At Atlanta; Vs. Washington

No. 10 Buffalo 83

Six remaining (three home, three away)

Playoff teams remaining: Five

At Washington; Vs. New Jersey; Vs. Detroit; At Toronto; At Carolina; Vs. Boston

(*) -- Teams within seven points of a playoff spot.

-- Wednesday's Game (and how it affected the Panthers): Buffalo losing to Atlanta means the Sabres get one point, but need much more at this point of the deal. Sabrays four points behind Florida, five behind Montreal.

-- Thursday's Games (and who the Panthers would be rooting for if they weren't so busy watching The Office)

Rangers @ Carolina, 7: Florida really needs a Carolina win here. Rangers lead Florida by two points. Panthers would like to keep it at two.

Canadiens @ Islanders, 7: Well, crazier things have happened on the Island.

-- The Standings (presented by Pepsi-Cola and courtesy of TSN.ca)

Eastern
Rank	Team	GP	W	L	OT	PTS	GF	GA	Home	Away	Last 10	Streak
1	y-Boston	76	49	17	10	108	257	180	26-6-6	23-11-4	6-3-1	Won 4
2	x-Washington	77	47	23	7	101	250	225	28-9-2	19-14-5	7-2-1	Won 2
3	x-New Jersey	77	47	26	4	98	229	195	26-11-1	21-15-3	3-6-1	Lost 6
4	Philadelphia	76	41	25	10	92	244	220	22-12-4	19-13-6	5-5-0	Lost 2
5	Pittsburgh	77	42	27	8	92	245	226	24-13-3	18-14-5	7-1-2	Won 3
6	Carolina	77	42	28	7	91	220	214	23-13-1	19-15-6	7-1-2	Won 6
7	NY Rangers	77	40	28	9	89	199	208	24-11-4	16-17-5	6-3-1	Won 1
8	Montreal	76	39	27	10	88	230	230	24-8-7	15-19-3	4-3-3	Won 1
9	Florida	77	38	28	11	87	218	218	20-11-7	18-17-4	4-4-2	Won 3
10	Buffalo	76	37	30	9	83	228	220	22-13-3	15-17-6	4-4-2	Lost 1
11	Toronto	77	32	32	13	77	233	273	15-14-9	17-18-4	6-4-0	Won 1
12	Ottawa	76	33	33	10	76	202	220	20-12-6	13-21-4	6-4-0	Lost 1
13	Atlanta	77	33	38	6	72	240	264	17-19-2	16-19-4	7-3-0	Won 3
14	Tampa Bay	77	24	36	17	65	197	255	12-16-11	12-20-6	3-4-3	Lost 4
15	NY Islanders	76	25	42	9	59	192	249	16-15-6	9-27-3	3-5-2	Lost 2
Western
Rank	Team	GP	W	L	OT	PTS	GF	GA	Home	Away	Last 10	Streak
1	y-San Jose	76	50	15	11	111	245	188	31-3-4	19-12-7	7-2-1	Won 2
2	y-Detroit	76	49	18	9	107	279	225	26-7-4	23-11-5	6-3-1	Lost 2
3	Vancouver	76	42	25	9	93	231	204	22-11-4	20-14-5	8-2-0	Won 3
4	Chicago	76	41	24	11	93	246	207	22-9-7	19-15-4	4-4-2	Won 1
5	Calgary	76	43	27	6	92	242	232	25-10-4	18-17-2	4-6-0	Lost 1
6	Columbus	77	40	29	8	88	214	212	25-12-2	15-17-6	6-2-2	Won 1
7	Anaheim	77	39	32	6	84	224	220	19-17-3	20-15-3	8-2-0	Won 2
8	Nashville	77	38	31	8	84	197	211	23-12-4	15-19-4	5-2-3	Lost 1
9	St. Louis	77	37	31	9	83	215	222	22-13-5	15-18-4	6-3-1	Lost 1
10	Minnesota	77	36	32	9	81	196	189	20-11-7	16-21-2	4-4-2	Lost 1
11	Edmonton	77	36	32	9	81	221	236	16-15-6	20-17-3	4-5-1	Lost 2
12	Dallas	77	34	33	10	78	217	242	19-15-5	15-18-5	3-5-2	Won 1
13	Los Angeles	76	31	34	11	73	193	222	16-15-8	15-19-3	2-6-2	Lost 2
14	Phoenix	77	33	37	7	73	195	235	21-14-3	12-23-4	5-4-1	Won 2
15	Colorado	77	31	44	2	64	193	250	18-20-0	13-24-2	2-7-1	Lost 8

Comments

[Eric]

Great blog george, thanks for your post yesterday and man you gotta love how all these guys came out swingin to your defense.
Love your posts and always will be a fan of your blogs.

Peace,
Go Cats GO!!!!!

[Bo]

I will second Eric's "Great blog George."
Every win is so important they can't take Atlanta lightly, the Thrashers have played too well lately to take them lightly would be a disaster. In the words of Dick Cheney, may he rest in peace, the rest of the season will be a long hard slog.

[season ticket holder since day one]

Football has something called flex scheduling where NBC gets to choose the best game towards the end of the season, sadly on Tuesday with the Panthers playing the Flyers and the Rangers playing the Canadians, Versus (owned by Comcast that owns the Flyers) is showing Dallas and the Wild.

Can someone in the league office explain this one?

[EJ]

I guess for those of us who don't have premium hockey channels, we'll be going to the sports bar to watch the Flyers lose on Tuesday night.

Big game tonight.
Supposedly, the Thrashers have the worst penalty kill in the league?

[D-Man]

keep up the good work reporting George... this blog helps on the slow days at the office... big game tonight, keep Kovalchuk wrapped up and we should be good. ANy idea on who will be starting in goal for ATL?