SUNRISE (CBSMiami/AP) — Last season, the Florida Panthers came as close to making the playoffs as a team could.
But they ended up on the outside looking in.
Now, the Panthers have a point to make this season.
A point to make up, too.
Ordinarily, 96 points in the standings gets a team into the Stanley Cup playoffs. Since the league went to its current points format — where a tie after regulation guarantees both teams one point — 99 percent of clubs who fared that well got into the postseason. Last season’s Panthers fell into that other 1 percent, joining the 2014-15 Boston Bruins as the lone 96-point clubs to miss the playoffs.