"We're not where we want to be yet," said the Panthers' coach. "I think we're 5-3-1 in our last ten. We're going to have to finish this season with very few losses. The competitiveness in the Eastern Conference is always extreme coming down the wire."

Those words can't even express how close the competition will be as we close out the season. In what seems like an annual tight race, only four points separate 2nd from 8th in the Eastern Conference. That means, while currently not in a playoff spot, the Panthers are only 4 wins back from 2nd overall in the conference.

"It's crazy how competitive this conference," said the Panthers' GM. "Every year, whether we're in or we're not, it seems to come down to the wire. Win a few games and you could jump to the top half of the conference. That's the difference of home ice advantage in the playoffs."

The rest of the season is going to be certainly entertaining. For Panthers fans, hopefully this team has been holding out and puts the pedal on the gas going into the home stretch.