Back to Zero

  For the President Trophy winners, round one didn't go quite as planned. Jumping out to an early two to nothing lead in the series, the Panthers went on to drop three straight to the Boston Bruins, putting them on the brink of elimination.  But they battled through in Games 6 and 7, to move on to the Eastern Semi Finals.

 One big reason for that, was Jonathan Quick. The Vezina nominee struggled early on, giving up 11 goals in 4 games to start the series, being bailed out by some strong offense in the first two games. But with the end of the season in site, Quick locked down, shuting out the Bruins in back to back games. Putting his shutout streak at 142 minutes, and 51 seconds. "Quick was lights out for us, and without him I'm not sure we move on to the next round of the playoffs. He was on fire and now the team has got to help him out going forward."

 It's the second year in a row the Panthers have gone to 7 games in the Quarter Finals. Last year it was the New York Islanders, who the Panthers will meet in the 2nd round. "We never make it easy on ourselves. It will be a fun rematch, and they have gotten better over the last year, but so have we. I don't expect Marc (Crawford) to make any changes, and if we can carry the momentum, we should be good."

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________

 The Panthers aren't the only ones moving on. The San Antonio Rampage are also going to the AHL semis (their first playoff berth under GM Dylan Wilson) and will be taking on the Grand Rapid Griffins, after taking out the Rockford IceHogs in 5 games. 

  And going forward, coach Dallas Eakins expects more of the same. "We had a lot of our vets clicking in round 1, and that shouldn't change. If we continue to get the goaltending we have been getting from Mase, and some of the younger guys step up, I can't see a way we don't move on."