Poor goaltending in Florida costs Lightning, Panthers must-win games

It's looking increasingly likely that playoff hockey won't be played in Florida this spring.

Tuesday night was excruciating for the state's two teams, as the Panthers and Tampa Bay Lightning dropped must-win games against teams they simply had to beat: the Carolina Hurricanes and Arizona Coyotes.

Goaltending was the reason why on this night:

In fact, with the Panthers' 4-3 loss to Hurricanes, Carolina's now jumped Tom Rowe's club in the Eastern Conference standings. The Canes are hot: 6-1-3 in their last 10, and now six points back of the second wild-card spot, currently held by Toronto.

They've featured prominently in the Panthers' season, going 2-0-1 against the club. Fired head coach Gerard Gallant's final game with the Panthers was a 3-2 loss to Carolina, back on Nov. 27.

The Panthers won the Atlantic Division last season. This time around, they're fighting tooth and nail just for a chance to sneak back into the dance.

The Lightning, meanwhile, have now lost three in a row after a 5-3 setback to Arizona, and are stuck at 77 points, with the Maple Leafs owning a game in hand.

The Coyotes went into Tuesday's game with more points than only hapless Colorado. The Lightning simply had to get two points, any which way.

Six of Tampa Bay's remaining 10 games are against teams in playoff position, including Boston and Montreal twice. There's one more date with Toronto, on April 6, which looms very large.

The Lightning are in jeopardy of missing the playoffs for the first time since 2013, after back-to-back deep runs, to the Eastern Conference Final last year and the Stanley Cup Final two years ago.

The rest of the way is a bit tougher on the Panthers, with seven of 10 left against playoff-bound clubs.