The Florida Panthers have just secured a playoff spot for the fifth year straight. Last season they clinched the spot with only one game remaining in the regular season. They then ended up heading all the way into the Eastern Conference Finals. This year they clinched a playoff spot with nine games left in the season. Prior to the 2019-2020 season the franchise never made the playoffs more than two seasons consecutively.

Only 5 teams now hold a streak for longer active playoff appearances:

1) Boston Bruins - 8 (including this season)

2) Toronto Maple Leafs - 7

3) Colorado Avalanche - 6

4) Tampa Bay Lightning - 6

5) Carolina Hurricanes - 6 (including this season)

“It absolutely is,” defenseman Aaron Ekblad said. “It would have been nice to get the win and see that X, obviously we knew that could have been a scenario.

“But anytime you see that, you have to look back on the accomplishments of the year and the accomplishment of making the playoffs is no easy task. We had a stretch here where it was extremely difficult. The buy-in in the system and the guys in this room deserve to enjoy a little bit of that credit.”

“Last year it came before the last game of the season, so now we have a little breathing room here,” said captain Aleksander Barkov, who notched his 700th career point in the loss. “But of course, we know we have a lot of work to do and we need to be a little better, better than the last few games, for sure.”

There are nine games left for the Panthers and officially 22 days before the playoffs start. This team knows how much it will take to succeed in the NHL playoffs. This team made it to the Final last season before losing to the Vegas Golden Knights in 5.

And after their loss to the New York Islanders yesterday, it will be interesting to see how the rest of the Panthers season plays out.

“We’re a hungry team,” forward Sam Bennett said. “We had a taste of it. We were right there and came up a little short. We want it badly. I think every guy in this locker room is dying for that chance to win. We’re definitely a group that’s going to do whatever it takes.”

A lot of teams are hungry for the Cup this year, but as we have seen in previous years, anything can happen in the NHL playoffs.

Panthers ‘hungry’ for more after clinching playoff berth for 5th straight season | NHL.com