By comparison, only three of eight in the Pacific are above the .500 mark.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re going to get everybody\u2019s best,\u2019\u2019\u00a0Paul Maurice\u00a0said Monday. \u201cAll the teams in the Atlantic are good teams. \u00a0When you get their best you have to match it. I think that was a really strong game by Detroit. I wasn\u2019t in love with ours.\u201d<\/p>\n
Atlantic Division teams, certainly, are not the pushovers they had been.<\/p>\n
The Panthers practically owned the Wings in this decade.\u00a0<\/p>\n
From 2019-20 through last season, they were 23-5-1 against Detroit.\u00a0<\/p>\n
During that time period,\u00a0Sergei Bobrovsky<\/a>\u00a0was 16-3-1 in games against the Red Wings.\u00a0<\/p>\n So far this season, the Panthers are 0-3 against Atlantic foes so far.\u00a0<\/p>\n Weaker teams in the Atlantic Division have improved over the years.\u00a0<\/p>\n The Sabres made the playoffs last season after a 14-year drought; Ottawa has been a playoff team the past two seasons but that was preceded by seven straight non-playoff years.<\/p>\n Likewise, the Montreal Canadiens made the postseason the past two years after missing for three seasons.\u00a0<\/p>\n They won two rounds before being eliminated by the eventual Cup winning Hurricanes in the conference finals.<\/p>\n The improved Bruins will be Florida\u2019s next Atlantic Division opponent Sunday in Boston.\u00a0<\/p>\n The Bruins sit atop the Atlantic Division right now with 23 points.<\/p>\n Tampa Bay remains a force despite being eliminated by Montreal in a seven-game set last season.\u00a0<\/p>\n The hard-luck Toronto Maple Leafs missed the playoffs last year after nine straight appearances but the additions of\u00a0Kirill Marchenko\u00a0and No. 1 draft pick\u00a0Gavin McKenna<\/a>\u00a0to go along with\u00a0Auston Matthews<\/a>and\u00a0William Nylander<\/a>\u00a0will make them a tough opponent for years to come.<\/p>\n Oh yeah, they have Bobrovsky now as well.\u00a0<\/p>\n There is no shortage of old and young star power in the division.<\/p>\n Detroit might be missing\u00a0Dylan Larkin<\/a>, but veterans\u00a0Alex DeBrincatand newly acquired\u00a0Viktor Arvidsson\u00a0are taking up the slack.<\/p>\n Ottawa without\u00a0Brady Tkachuk\u00a0gave Florida a lesson recently.\u00a0Tim St\u01d4tzle\u00a0and\u00a0Drake Batherson\u00a0are emerging superstars with\u00a0Shane Pinto\u00a0not far behind.<\/p>\n Buffalo has big\u00a0Tage Thompson, one of the league\u2019s top snipers. Their strong defense features\u00a0Owen Power\u00a0and\u00a0Rasmus Dahlin.<\/p>\n Montreal\u2019s speedy\u00a0Nick Suzuki\u00a0and\u00a0Cole Caufield\u00a0are tough to defend against.\u00a0Lane Hutson, a former Calder Memorial Trophy winner as top rookie, is a solid two-way threat on defense.<\/p>\n Boston still has\u00a0David Pastrnak, who over his career, is at a near point a game pace against Florida.<\/p>\n Tampa Bay might have been weakened in recent years by the loss of\u00a0Steven Stamkos, but they still have Hart Trophy winner\u00a0Nikita Kucherov, at least for now, and all-world goalie\u00a0Andrei Vasilevskiy.<\/p>\n \u201cWe know it\u2019s going to be tough,\u2019\u2019\u00a0Sam Bennett\u00a0said. \u201cWe know we need to be better against divisional teams and that\u2019s obviously going to be a focus for us. We\u2019ll be aware of that for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n The immediate task at hand is Chicago tonight. The Panthers squeaked out a victory at their earlier meeting in the Windy City.\u00a0<\/p>\n The Hawks missed the playoffs the last six seasons and are near the bottom of the NHL right now, but they have\u00a0Connor Bedard\u00a0and a resurgent\u00a0Patrick Kane\u00a0up front as well as our old pal\u00a0Spencer Knight\u00a0in goal.<\/p>\n The Blackhawks lost six of the last seven, but like just about every NHL team, they are not pushovers.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n ON DECK: GAME No. 16<\/p>\n CHICAGO BLACKHAWKS at FLORIDA PANTHERS<\/p>\n When:\u00a0Wednesday, 7:30 p.m. \u2014 Hometown Remix Game No. 2<\/a><\/p>\n Where:\u00a0Amerant Bank Arena, Sunrise<\/p>\n National TV:\u00a0TNT\/truTV<\/p>\n National Streaming: HBO Max\u00a0<\/p>\n Radio:\u00a0WQAM; WBZT 1230-AM (Palm Beach); WCTH 100.3-FM (Florida Keys); SiriusXM. Panthers Radio Streaming:\u00a0SiriusXM, NHL\/Panthers App<\/p>\n Last Season:\u00a0Panthers won 2-0<\/p>\n This Season (Panthers Lead 1-0) \u2014 At Florida: Wednesday. At Chicago:\u00a0Panthers 3, Blackhawks 2 (Oct. 25)<\/a><\/p>\n
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