Eastern standings look wild, Yet the Florida Panthers won't go away

A StatMuse snapshot making the rounds Wednesday is a pretty good reminder that nobody in the East is coasting. You look up and Florida is right there in the mix, even if the table keeps shifting daily.

The numbers underline the squeeze. The Panthers sit at 24-18-3 for 51 points, only a couple wins from jumping a tier, and only a couple losses from getting swallowed by the pack.

That's what parity looks like when the conference is basically a traffic jam. Florida is sitting behind teams like Toronto and Buffalo in points, while Tampa Bay is up top, yet the gap still feels manageable if the Cats stack a week.

As a fan, it's hard not to admire the nerve it takes to keep pushing when the lineup feels like it's held together by athletic tape.

The wild part is Florida is doing it while missing real star power. Matthew Tkachuk still has not played this season after surgery for a torn adductor and sports hernia, and Brad Marchand has been day-to-day while missing three games recently.

Even shorthanded, the Panthers have grabbed tough road results, including a 3-2 win over Ottawa and a win in Buffalo that snapped the Sabres' home streak. Those are the kinds of points you remember in April.

Marchand's importance is obvious when you zoom in on production. He's at 23 goals and 46 points in 41 games, and Florida has had to find offense by committee whenever he sits.

Now the schedule tightens the screws again with a back-to-back at Carolina and Washington, right after a rare mid-trip return home for a couple days. If help arrives soon, the standings math gets a lot friendlier fast.