The late and great Lawrence Peter “Yogi” Berra said it best:
“It’s getting late early.”
And so it is with the Florida Panthers, who enter Saturday’s home game against the Vancouver Canucks with the fewest points (one) in the Eastern Conference. The Panthers have only played two games — some rivals have played as many as five — so there’s a l-o-n-g way to go.
But even so, the Panthers know they came up one point short of the playoffs last season, and these October games count just as much as the ones in February.
The Panthers also know that their Hall of Fame goalie, Roberto Luongo, is out with a knee injury, likely for a month, and a lot is riding on backup James Reimer, who gave up five goals in Thursday’s 5-4 home loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets.