The Silver Shield, Vol. 13: Drama in the Atlantic

“The Silver Shield” is a column by Kasey Kazliner about the National Hockey League.

Move over Bruins, here come the Panthers

The Atlantic Division is arguably the best in the NHL this season. The Boston Bruins have been among the top teams for the whole year, the Florida Panthers are coming off a Stanley Cup Finals appearance, the Toronto Maple Leafs are recently coming off a seven-game win streak and the Detroit Red Wings have won six straight. Even the Tampa Bay Lightning, who are amid a down year, occupy a wild card spot.

The Panthers and Bruins have a heated history. On top of defeating Boston in the 1996 playoffs (the year of Florida’s first Stanley Cup appearance), the wild-card Panthers stunned Presidents’ Trophy-winning Boston in seven games en route to earning their second Wales Trophy in franchise history last season. Despite losing in the finals, the red-hot Panthers are back this year and better than before. Coming off a four-game skid in mid-January, Florida is 12-2-0 in its last 14 games. The Bruins, like Florida, are also elite this year. However, a 3-2-5 record in their last 10 games — including a current three-game slide — has left both teams even atop the division at 82 points.

One thing the Bruins and Panthers have in common is elite goaltending tandems. Boston’s Jeremy Swayman and Linus Ullmark have split time fairly consistently, with each nearing 20 wins on the season. Recently, though, the pair have had games they’d certainly like to have back. The Bruins have been blowing leads lately, and Swayman and Ullmark combined for a .904 save percentage and a 2.91 goals against average in February. That isn’t terrible, but it certainly isn’t enough to win close games.

Florida’s Sergei Bobrovsky has dominated in the crease for Florida. He’s top three in wins (29), and top five in both save percentage (.916) and goals against average (2.35) in the NHL. While he’s been the Panthers’ main option, Anthony Stolarz has provided some quality starts as well. The duo hasn’t allowed more than two goals in their last 14 games, a franchise record.

Amid a rough stretch, expect Boston to be a big spender come the March 8 trade deadline. The team could certainly benefit from acquiring a forward to bolster their top six, especially on the power play. Winger David Pastrnak is putting together an electric season, tallying 85 points thus far, and he could use some extra help. Bruins president Cam Neely has also indicated that another defenseman is desired.

Florida should be a buyer too, in theory, but it doesn’t hold a first-round draft pick until 2026, making it low on tradable assets. Nonetheless, the Panthers should be able to add some depth to lighten the load from star forwards Sam Reinhart and Matthew Tkachuk. Florida’s electric offense has generated a plus-52 goal differential, the best in the league.

Critically, Boston has taken both head-to-head matchups, but the most recent was on November 22. The Panthers will look to win the two crucial games left on the calendar against the Bruins to further make their case for the Atlantic crown.

Looking at the rest of the division, the Maple Leafs, Red Wings or Lightning all have a chance to take the Atlantic’s third spot at this point. Detroit’s six-game win streak has been led by its stout depth and a retro-looking Patrick Kane, who’s on a nine-game point streak throughout every game in February.

Toronto’s seven-game win streak of its own was snapped by the Golden Knights in a 6-2 rout on Tuesday. With three skaters already eclipsing 70 points in William Nylander, Auston Matthews and Mitchell Marner, the Leafs will hope to avoid the wild card and stay in front of the Red Wings, who are just two points behind.

Tampa Bay’s issue is consistency. The Lightning recently went on a three-game win streak including victories against top teams in the Bruins and Avalanche, but then proceeded to drop their next three with losses against the struggling Senators and Capitals. However, more than any squad in the NHL, Tampa Bay has Cup-winning experience. The Lightning are a team that might have issues in the regular season but are a completely different animal come playoff time. They’ll need to strengthen their defense if they want to solidify a wild card spot at 69 points so far.

With varying levels of playoff experience, the Atlantic’s top five teams could all very likely make the postseason. The Panthers and Bruins headline the Eastern Conference with their strong casts, but don’t count out the Red Wings, Maple Leafs and Lightning, who will try to prove doubters wrong.

Worry like it’s 1996 in Winnipeg?

Canada Life Centre, which has the lowest capacity out of all non-temporary arenas in NHL, resides in Winnipeg, the league’s smallest market. Nonetheless, Jets fans have historically sold out the place and the team has been stable in the smaller city — well, this iteration of the Jets has at least. The NHL’s original Winnipeg Jets packed their bags for Phoenix in 1996 after suffering intense financial problems. However, Winnipeg got another stab at an NHL franchise when the Atlanta Thrashers moved to the city in 2011, rebirthing the Jets name.

This season, Winnipeg has seen its season ticket numbers decline to just 9,500 with an average attendance of 13,140 fans per game. This comes at a time when the Jets are atop the Central Division and eyeing a deep playoff run. In a press conference Tuesday, Commissioner Gary Bettman said that Winnipeg is a strong NHL market and was assuring that ticket sales will reach previous heights, but he also bluntly urged fans to fill the arena again.

The Jets likely won’t move anytime soon, but low attendance figures are still alarming, especially for a contending team. The team saw its lowest non-pandemic crowd in franchise history (its second iteration) on October 24, hosting just 11,136 fans in a divisional bout with the Blues.

The Jets will look to increase their support as the team prepares for a long road ahead. They’ll hope that Bettman’s presser — and decreasing fan engagement — won’t distract them from keeping up their winning ways.

Arizona Coyotes: once a dark horse, now under a dark cloud

Earlier this season, the Coyotes seemed like a potential playoff-caliber team in the Central. But now, Arizona has lost 13 straight games, which is nearing their embarrassing franchise record of 15. Not only are the Yotes dropping games repeatedly, but in seven of the streak’s matches, they’ve allowed five or more goals.

On top of the on-ice issues, relocation rumors are surging. Team ownership is yet to announce any concrete arena plans, and the time is ticking for the Coyotes to figure out where they’ll be playing for the future. They currently play home games at Arizona State’s 4,600-seat Mullett Arena.

On the bright side, Arizona currently has fifth-best odds of landing the No. 1 overall pick in the upcoming draft. However, considering that the Coyotes were emerging as a dark-horse playoff team not long ago, this season has been an utter failure.

“The Silver Shield” runs every Thursday.