Dein erstes Forum » the Panthers didn’t even make the playoffs

COLUMBUS Vegas Golden Knights Hats Authentic , Ohio (AP) The Columbus Blue Jackets played one more playoff game this season than last, but it’s all the same to general manager Jarmo Kekalainen and coach John Tortorella. Not good enough.And apparently there’s plenty of blame to go around.”Everybody has to give skin here, from the coaches right on through, as far as what happened,” Tortorella said in his exit interview with reporters Thursday.The Blue Jackets promising season fizzled out in the end. They overcame injuries to key players and finished the regular season strong, making the Stanley Cup playoffs for the second season in a row. They won the first two in the first-round playoff series on the road against the Washington Capitals, only to drop the next four straight.It ended with a thud in a 6-3 loss in Game 6 on home ice Monday night.Despite how all that sounds, the team didn’t implode, Tortorella said.”We were a good enough team to beat Washington this year,” he said. ”We just did not make that big play and or get that big save at key times, and they did.”I like our team, I like our personnel Custom Vegas Golden Knights Jerseys ,” he said. ”The biggest thing is we need to change our mindset here, (so) that we feel we belong in the playoffs. We need to think stronger in how to find a way. I want us to be more aggressive in our thinking and expect some more.”The Blue Jackets undoubtedly will have some different faces next season. Just how many remains to be seen. Kekalainen was coy when asked if the team needs more talented players to get deeper into the playoffs.”We’re always looking to upgrade, one way or another,” he said. ”I think we’re going to get better again from inside. It’s going to be the same approach.”Kekalainen cited the surprise trade last summer that brought star winger Artemi Panarin to town and the swift emergence of rookie center Pierre-Luc Dubois. But he won’t talk strategy.One the goals likely will be to sign Panarin and goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky – the team’s biggest stars – to contract extensions. Both will be unrestricted free agents in 2019, and the team would like to lock them up before that.Defenseman Jack Johnson and forward Matt Calvert will be unrestricted free agents on July 1, so the Blue Jackets will have to make a decision on whether to sign them to new contracts. The 28-year-old Calvert, the longest tenured Blue Jacket at eight seasons but never more than a bottom six player, tied his career-high season point total with 24 and had three playoff goals.The Blue Jackets also will have to decide whether to re-sign forwards Thomas Vanek and Mark Letestu and defensemen Ian Cole, all of whom were added at the trade deadline.Columbus finished with 97 points, second most in franchise history after last season’s 108, and qualified for the playoffs as a wildcard. The team punctuated a furious comeback down the stretch with a 10-game winning streak in March.But the playoffs were a bust. Again.”We expected more out of ourselves this year,” defenseman Zach Werenski said on his way out this week. ”Go up 2-0 on the road John Moore Jersey Womens , come back home we don’t get a win. I just think we have higher expectations, and we should. We are a good hockey team and we fell short of our goals this year. At the end of the day, if you are not holding the Stanley Cup, it’s kind of a failed season. This one definitely stings.”— SUNRISE, Fla. — Lately, it’s been domination by the Buffalo Sabres and frustration by the Florida Panthers.On Friday night, the Panthers will host the Sabres (17-7-2), who had won 10 straight games until losing an epic 5-4 battle at the Tampa Bay Lightning on Thursday night.The Panthers (9-10-4), meanwhile, are nearly halfway through a crucial eight-game home stretch. They are 1-1-1 so far and have given up some painful goals late in games.Article continues below ...On Saturday night, the Panthers appeared to have a win over the Chicago Blackhawks. However, Chicago scored with just 1.8 seconds left in regulation and then got the overtime goal to stun the Panthers.Then Chris Wagner Jersey Womens , on Wednesday, the Panthers lost 3-2 to the Anaheim Ducks, allowing the deciding goal with 1:28 left in the third period.“We’ve had a couple of tough bounces,” Panthers defenseman Keith Yandle said. “Those things come and go in waves. We just have to continue to stay in our system, and it will work itself out.”But the Panthers, who are tied for last in the 16-team Eastern Conference with 22 points, must feel a sense of urgency now that they have played roughly one-fourth of their season (23 games out of 82).Indeed, Panthers winger Jonathan Huberdeau said that giving up the late goal to the Ducks left a bitter taste.“It’s frustrating,” he said. “We battled a full 60 … It’s tough.”Things have been much happier for the Sabres, who had won seven of the 10 games in their streak in overtime. The Sabres finished last season with the worst record in the NHL but have found the winning formula so far this time around.The Sabres were so bad last season that they trailed the Panthers by 34 points in the standings … and the Panthers didn’t even make the playoffs.This season, the Sabres are fourth in the latest NHL power rankings put out by ESPN.com and also by CBS. The Panthers are 26th in the ESPN rankings and 21st by CBS.One of the keys for the Sabres is Rasmus Dahlin, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2018 draft who leads the league’s rookie defensemen with 13 points Alex Galchenyuk Jersey Womens , including 11 assists.“We want to change this together,” Dahlin said of Buffalo’s transformation, so far at least, from last-place club to legitimate Stanley Cup contender.Dahlin had been on the ice for a team-best 12 goals during the just-concluded 10-game win streak.But it’s not just Dahlin. Goalie Carter Hutton had won eight consecutive games until losing on Thursday, the penalty kill has been outstanding, left winger Jeff Skinner leads the team with 19 goals, and center Jack Eichel tops the Sabres with 25 assists.On Friday night, on short rest, the Sabres will look to start a new streak … against a desperate Panthers team.