DOGS DAILY: The Panthers Are Good

If you haven’t noticed, the Florida Panthers have been playing some good hockey of late.

The Panthers, who feature former Sea Dogs head coaches Gerard Gallant and Mike Kelly along with forward Jonathan Huberdeau, have won an impressive 12 straight games. Their latest victory came last night when they defeated the Oilers in Edmonton.

Florida will look to win their 13^th straight tonight in Vancouver against the Canucks.

The Panthers’ run of success has pushed them into second overall in the NHL’s Eastern Conference with a 26-12-4 record for 56 points. Only Stanislav Galiev’s Washington Capitals (32-7-3) have a better record in the east.

Gallant, Kelly and Huberdeau are no strangers to stringing together victories with one another, having won 22 straight with Saint John during the 2009-10 season. Gallant compared the two streaks in a recent Miami Herald article.

“This is the NHL, and there’s no bad teams,” he said. “With the parity in this league, you take any team lightly and you’re going to lose.  

“In junior we had such a good team that most nights there wasn’t much competition for us. To win 11 games in a row in the National Hockey League, your team has to be doing something right, so we’re really happy with the way we’re playing.”

Huberdeau, who scored the game-winner on Sunday, has three goals and 10 assists in his past 12 games.

In other news…

• Luke Green and Oliver Felixson both made TSN’s Craig Button’s latest “Craig’s List.”
• When anybody tells you the QMJHL is the craziest junior league in Canada, remind them that an OHL team traded a 2023 draft pick today.
• The Sea Dogs play at home twice this weekend, hosting the Charlottetown Islanders on Friday and Halifax Mooseheads on Saturday.
• From yesterday’s game:

With his 2 points today Nathan Noel now has 130 career points as a Sea Dog which moves him past Stephen MacAulay for 13th all time

— Kevin Chambers (@SN_Canucklehead) January 11, 2016

Photo via David Kelly on Twitter