SUNRISE Wade Megan Jersey Womens , Fla. (AP) — The Florida Panthers are hoping for deja vu.Sort of.A year ago, the Panthers shook off a disastrous start to the season and caught fire after the All-Star break — only to miss the playoffs by a single point. This year, they’re heading into the break on a three-game winning streak and playing perhaps their best hockey of the season after spending the first three months of the year sputtering near the bottom of the NHL.So here they go again, trying for another late and improbable playoff push.“We have that confidence back, that swagger,” goaltender Roberto Luongo said after a 6-2 win over San Jose on Monday night.They’ll need more than swagger.The Panthers were 24-8-2 in the final 34 games last season, getting 50 of a possible 68 points down the stretch. This year, with 34 games left when they return to the ice on Feb. 1, they’ll need a similar run. Florida is 10 points out of the final wild-card berth in the Eastern Conference, and 11 points from catching Boston for the third and final guaranteed playoff spot out of the Atlantic Division.“I think we are starting to turn the corner,” Panthers coach Bob Boughner said. “We have a long way to go.”As unlikely as it seems — especially for the Panthers, an often-woebegone franchise that hasn’t won a playoff series since 1996 — there is a potential path to the postseason.Florida (20-20-8) has 12 games between Feb. 1 and Feb. 23 Tobias Rieder Jersey Womens , and 11 of those are on home ice. That’s the good news. The flip side is this: Of those 12, eight are against teams that are currently in the top half of the NHL, including matchups with Tampa Bay, Nashville, Washington, Pittsburgh and Vegas quickly after the All-Star break ends.“It’s nice to be back to feeling the way I like to feel and the confidence is there,” said Luongo, who has won consecutive starts for the first time in more than a month. “The guys are playing well in front of me. It’s a two-way street. When the guys play well I feel good and when I feel good the guys play well.”There is a clear urgency, and it started last week with the team on what was then a seven-game losing skid.Florida was without Vincent Trocheck for 27 games after he broke his right ankle in November. When he returned to practice last week, the Panthers’ plan was to keep him out until after the break in order to make sure he was fully ready to go.Trocheck successfully argued otherwise. Not only did he play in three games since returning to practice — in a four-day span, no less — the Panthers went 3-0-0 in those games, clearly sparked by his comeback.“We’re having fun Mike Hoffman Jersey Womens ,” said Trocheck, who has two goals and two assists since returning. “It’s fun to win some hockey games. It’s been tough for us this year in that department. To go into a break like this with a little bit of momentum, having some fun, it’s going to make a big difference for the second half.” The Vancouver Canucks go from one Stanley Cup Finals participant to the next, losing to the defending champion Washington Capitals at home Monday night and traveling to Las Vegas to play the Vegas Golden Knights on Wednesday night at the T-Mobile Arena.Vancouver coach Travis Green said he believes the Canucks (5-4-0) can learn from the way the Capitals played in his team’s 5-2 loss on Monday night.“They don’t just go out there and just play summer hockey. They play the game the right way,” Green said of Alex Ovechkin and Co. “These are valuable experiences and lessons for our players, our young players especially.Article continues below ...“They’re big, they’re strong, they’re skilled, they win puck battles, they manage the puck. They do everything that Stanley Cup winning teams do. And they’re deep. Man, that’s a good hockey team.”The same could be said about Vegas (4-4-0) in the Golden Knights’ dreamy inaugural season last year Peter Budaj Jersey Womens , when they shocked the NHL by advancing to the Stanley Cup Finals against the Capitals.The Golden Knights have shown flashes of yesteryear in their present three-game winning streak, which includes a dominating 3-1 win over the first-place Anaheim Ducks on Saturday.William Karlsson, Ryan Reaves and Jonathan Marchessault scored off a season-high 45 shots while allowing the Ducks to attempt only 18. Marchessault’s score came on an empty net.“Our forecheck was amazing,” Marchessault said. “We played fast. We got a lot of shots off — not necessarily quality ones — but we still got good chances. … It was good to get a good home game here.”Marc-Andre Fleury finished with 17 saves for his 408th career victory and passed Glenn Hall for 10th on the all-time list for goaltenders.Fleury has allowed two goals in his last three games and has stopped 69 of 71 shots in that span.Vancouver goalie Anders Nilsson had a much tougher night against Washington, allowing five shots to reach the net out of 33 attempts.Penalties played a big part in the Canucks’ loss, with Washington netting two power-play goals. The Canucks also converted on a power play, a point of emphasis for them.Right winger Brock Boeser fired a hard shot with puck bouncing off the pads of Capitals goalie Braden Holtby and on to Sven Baertschi’s stick. Holtby didn’t have time to reset before Baertschi fired the shot past him for his third goal of the year.“For us on the power play, we’ve talked about taking more shots, playing more direct and not trying to be too cute,” Vancouver center Bo Horvat said. “(Boeser) made the right play, put it on net and (Baertschi) was right there for the rebound.”Horvat echoed Green by saying the Canucks can learn from how the Capitals played –aggressive, creating penalty opportunities and capitalizing on them.“They were moving their feet Andrew Hammond Jersey Womens , getting on the forecheck, taking the play to us at times,” Horvat said.The Golden Knights hope to put together a strong first 20 minutes against Vancouver similar to how they played against the Ducks. They had more than twice as many shot attempts as Anaheim (27-12) and held a 15-3 advantage in shots on goal.Despite that discrepancy, Vegas did not score until 13.7 seconds remained in the first period on a power-play goal by Karlsson when he redirected Marchessault’s shot in the net. It was Karlsson’s second goal in as many games after he was held without a goal in the first six games.“We played a good team and controlled the play a lot,” Fleury said. “It’s still early in the season, but when the playoffs come around and you need to push to make it, getting those early points can help you win the race.”