The Panthers beat everybody except the teams they have to pass

The Panthers have beaten everybody they've played except the teams they actually have to pass. That's the whole first month in one line, and it's the part that should bother the room.

Florida is 0-3-0 against the Atlantic and has been outscored 15-7 in those games, by our count. Against everyone else, the cats are 8-2-2 with a 40-29 goal difference. Same roster, same coach, two completely different hockey teams depending on the opponent's division.

The three nights

Buffalo beat them 5-3 on Oct. 12. Ottawa ran them 5-1 on Oct. 21. Detroit came into Sunrise on Monday and won 5-3, with Justin Faulk's power-play slap shot through a screen starting a two-goal burst early in the third.

The Detroit loss is the one that stings, because Florida carried the play. The Panthers led in scoring chances 43-23 and still lost by two. Maurice didn't dress it up.

"I think that was a really strong game by Detroit," he said. "I wasn't in love with ours."

He also said, "There's not easy puck movement for us right now." That's the tell. When the breakout gets sticky, the D gets pinned, and the division teams know how to punish a pinned D.

Where it shows up

Gustav Forsling and Niko Mikkola are a combined minus-7 in the three Atlantic games, per NHL data, and Forsling has no points in them despite playing 24.2, 22.4 and 20.0 minutes.

That pair is the engine of this team's defense. In these games it's been stuck in neutral.

Up front, Brady Tkachuk is minus-5 against the division and Matthew Tkachuk minus-4, with a point apiece in every one of those games. The Tkachuks are getting on the scoresheet and still losing their minutes, which is a defensive problem dressed up as an offensive one.

Sam Reinhart has three of the seven goals. That's not depth scoring, that's one guy carrying a bag of pucks uphill.

Why it matters now

The standings don't care how pretty the non-division wins were. Florida sits fifth in the Atlantic with 18 points in 15 games, per NHL data. Boston has 23, Montreal 21, Tampa 20 in 14 games and Ottawa 19. And the three teams that beat Florida, Ottawa, Buffalo and Detroit, are all within two points of it.

Markstrom said it plainly after Monday: "We know we need to get some divisional wins to pull away here."

Chicago comes to Sunrise tonight, which is a chance to stack points but doesn't fix this. The real test is Sunday in Boston, the first-place team, then Detroit again on Nov. 12 at home.

Pabs' read: This team has won two Cups by owning the Atlantic in April, not October, so I'm not panicking.

But I measure this group against its own standard, and right now the division is pushing the cats around on the wall. Fix the breakout, get Forsling back to Forsling, and take three of four points from Boston and Detroit. Anything less and we're talking about a wildcard spot by Thanksgiving.