Their three-game trip to Canada over, Panthers players went about their postgame routine in the visitors' dressing room Saturday night in a quiet, businesslike manner.
The expressions on their faces were those of resignation.
"We had to pretty much run the table," center Stephen Weiss said. "We started out with a win in Toronto and weren't able to get the last two. But we can't put ourselves in the position of having to win 11 in a row to have even a chance.
"It doesn't come down to this road trip. There are a lot of things that went on this year that have led up to it."
The Panthers tried to maintain hope while most outsiders wrote them off for the playoffs after six consecutive losses leading into the Olympic break and the trades of defensemen Jordan Leopold and Dennis Seidenberg that followed.
But after falling nine points behind the eighth-place Bruins on Saturday with eight games left, they realized that in two weeks their franchise will tie the NHL record with nine consecutive seasons without a playoff berth.
"Yeah, it sucks, but we've got no one to blame but ourselves," defenseman Bryan McCabe said. "We put ourselves in this spot. Like I've said before, we've been very inconsistent this year. There's no other way to look at it."
The disappointment is especially great for Weiss, the team's longest tenured player. He's been with the Panthers for eight of the nine seasons.
Weiss has done his part this season. He scored his career-high 26th goal Saturday ? his previous best was 20 in 2006-07 ? and leads the Panthers with 55 points.
"You only get so many years to play, and for me now, I'm eight years in and I haven't played a playoff game," Weiss said. "And it looks pretty dim right now. It's frustrating."
So what motivation is left for the Panthers starting with Monday's home game against the Predators?
"It's our job to play hard every night, no matter if we're in it or not," said McCabe, the team's captain. "You've got to have pride in what you do out there. We need to win as many games as we can."
With 71 points, the Panthers need 14 more to avoid finishing with their fewest points since 2003-04. Many fans would rather the team tank it the remainder of this season so it can have a better draft pick in the first round.
"No, you can't think that way, not as players," Weiss said. "We're playing for jobs and pride. We get paid to play this game, to play it hard and play it the right way. We've got to keep that in mind before each and every game. It's not exactly the easiest thing to do in the world, but we're professionals and we've got to compete every night."
The expressions on their faces were those of resignation.
"We had to pretty much run the table," center Stephen Weiss said. "We started out with a win in Toronto and weren't able to get the last two. But we can't put ourselves in the position of having to win 11 in a row to have even a chance.
"It doesn't come down to this road trip. There are a lot of things that went on this year that have led up to it."
The Panthers tried to maintain hope while most outsiders wrote them off for the playoffs after six consecutive losses leading into the Olympic break and the trades of defensemen Jordan Leopold and Dennis Seidenberg that followed.
But after falling nine points behind the eighth-place Bruins on Saturday with eight games left, they realized that in two weeks their franchise will tie the NHL record with nine consecutive seasons without a playoff berth.
"Yeah, it sucks, but we've got no one to blame but ourselves," defenseman Bryan McCabe said. "We put ourselves in this spot. Like I've said before, we've been very inconsistent this year. There's no other way to look at it."
The disappointment is especially great for Weiss, the team's longest tenured player. He's been with the Panthers for eight of the nine seasons.
Weiss has done his part this season. He scored his career-high 26th goal Saturday ? his previous best was 20 in 2006-07 ? and leads the Panthers with 55 points.
"You only get so many years to play, and for me now, I'm eight years in and I haven't played a playoff game," Weiss said. "And it looks pretty dim right now. It's frustrating."
So what motivation is left for the Panthers starting with Monday's home game against the Predators?
"It's our job to play hard every night, no matter if we're in it or not," said McCabe, the team's captain. "You've got to have pride in what you do out there. We need to win as many games as we can."
With 71 points, the Panthers need 14 more to avoid finishing with their fewest points since 2003-04. Many fans would rather the team tank it the remainder of this season so it can have a better draft pick in the first round.
"No, you can't think that way, not as players," Weiss said. "We're playing for jobs and pride. We get paid to play this game, to play it hard and play it the right way. We've got to keep that in mind before each and every game. It's not exactly the easiest thing to do in the world, but we're professionals and we've got to compete every night."
