Panthers vs. Avalanche
Denver, CO – With one month left, the Florida Panthers know they’re a longshot to reach the playoffs for the first time since 2000.
More efforts like the one in their last game could shorten those odds considerably.
Looking for their season-high fourth straight win, the Panthers continue a three-game western swing Thursday night against the Colorado Avalanche, who hope former Florida goaltender Craig Anderson can put a bad loss and the memory of a scary injury behind him.
Oddsmakers from online sportsbook SBGGlobal.com have made the Avalanche –185 money line favorites for Thursday’s game against the Panthers. Current NHL Public Betting Information shows that 60% of more than 75 bets for this game have been placed on the Avalanche -185.
Florida (27-28-10) opened its trip with a 3-2 shootout victory over Minnesota on Tuesday. Michael Frolik and Cory Stillman scored in the third period to erase a two-goal deficit, and Stillman had the only tally by either club in the shootout.
The key to the win, though, was Tomas Vokoun. He needed to make only nine saves through overtime and turned aside all four attempts in the tiebreaker.
The Panthers are well outside the top eight in the Eastern Conference with a difficult stretch coming up. They will close their road trip Saturday in San Jose before facing Washington, Phoenix and Buffalo at home.
"We’ve got to go out and win ourselves. It’s in our control," Stillman said. "We can’t count on anyone else to help us. This is a road trip where we need to get five out of six, if not six out of six points."
A resurgent offense could help Florida achieve that. The Panthers have scored 14 goals during their winning streak, led by four from Frolik and two each from Stillman and Kamil Kreps. The club had managed eight goals during a seven-game skid from Feb. 1-March 2.
This will be Florida’s first visit to Denver since a 5-4 overtime loss on Feb. 6, 2007, and the Panthers are 1-2-1 in their last four games there.
Barring a collapse, Colorado (37-23-6) will be returning to the playoffs after finishing at the bottom of the West last season. Getting in as Northwest Division champions is a distinct possibility as the Avalanche will be battling Vancouver for the top spot the rest of the way.
Colorado led the Canucks 4-1 midway through the second period Tuesday before Anderson allowed four unanswered goals. Vancouver added an empty-netter in the closing seconds to hand the Avalanche a 6-4 loss.
"I thought we came out and played strong in the first, we got the puck behind them. We were making our own chances and forcing them into some turnovers. We got away from that in the second, and that’s what we needed to get back to doing," Avalanche defenseman John-Michael Liles said.
Anderson was Vokoun’s backup with Florida from 2006-09 before signing a two-year deal with Colorado in July. Facing his former club for the first time on Dec. 2, he was involved in a collision with Panthers defenseman Keith Ballard late in overtime that caused Anderson’s head to hit the goalpost.
Colorado went on to lose 6-5 in a shootout as the Panthers’ Stephen Weiss recorded a hat trick and scored the only goal in the tiebreaker. Anderson missed the next four games with a neck injury, but he should make his 22nd straight start while trying to move closer to a franchise record.
Anderson’s 33 wins are the fourth-highest single-season total in Colorado history. Patrick Roy holds the top three slots, including a franchise-best 40 victories in 2000-01.
Weiss has a career-best 23 goals to lead the Panthers this season, but none in two career games in Colorado.
Posted: 3/10/2010 11:25PM ET