2020–21 Florida Panthers season

2020–21 Florida Panthers
Division	2nd Central
2020–21 record	37–14–5
Home record	20–5–3
Road record	17–9–2
Goals for	189
Goals against	153
Team information
General manager	Bill Zito
Coach	Joel Quenneville
Captain	Aleksander Barkov
Alternate captains	Aaron Ekblad Jonathan Huberdeau Keith Yandle
Arena	BB&T Center
Minor league affiliate(s)	Charlotte Checkers (AHL) Syracuse Crunch (AHL) Greenville Swamp Rabbits (ECHL)
Team leaders
Goals	Aleksander Barkov (26)
Assists	Jonathan Huberdeau (41)
Points	Jonathan Huberdeau (61)
Penalty minutes	Ryan Lomberg (67)
Plus/minus	MacKenzie Weegar (+29)
Wins	Sergei Bobrovsky (19)
Goals against average	Chris Driedger (2.07)

The 2020–21 Florida Panthers season was the 28th season for the National Hockey League franchise that was established in 1993. Head coach Joel Quenneville coached his second season with the team. On December 20, 2020, the league temporarily realigned into four divisions with no conferences due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the ongoing closure of the Canada–United States border. As a result of this realignment, the Panthers played this season in the Central Division and only played games against the other teams in their new division during the regular season and the first round of the playoffs.

On April 27, the Panthers clinched a playoff berth after a 7–4 win over the Nashville Predators.

Standings

Divisional standings

Central Division

Pos	Team	GP	W	L	OTL	RW	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	y – Carolina Hurricanes	56	36	12	8	27	179	136	+43	80
2	x – Florida Panthers	56	37	14	5	26	189	153	+36	79
3	x – Tampa Bay Lightning	56	36	17	3	29	181	147	+34	75
4	x – Nashville Predators	56	31	23	2	21	156	154	+2	64
5	e – Dallas Stars	56	23	19	14	17	158	154	+4	60
6	e – Chicago Blackhawks	56	24	25	7	15	161	186	−25	55
7	e – Detroit Red Wings	56	19	27	10	17	127	171	−44	48
8	e – Columbus Blue Jackets	56	18	26	12	12	137	187	−50	48

Schedule and results

Regular season

The regular season schedule was published on December 23, 2020.

2020–21 game log
January: 5–0–1 (Home: 2–0–0 ; Road: 3–0–1) # Date Visitor Score Home OT Decision Attendance Record Pts Recap — January 14 Dallas – Florida Postponed due to COVID protocol. Rescheduled for February 22. — January 15 Dallas – Florida Postponed due to COVID protocol. Rescheduled for May 10. 1 January 17 Chicago 2–5 Florida Driedger 4,147 1–0–0 2 Recap 2 January 19 Chicago 4–5 Florida OT Bobrovsky 3,667 2–0–0 4 Recap — January 21 Florida – Carolina Postponed due to COVID protocol. Rescheduled for February 17. — January 23 Florida – Carolina Postponed due to COVID protocol. Rescheduled for March 7. 3 January 26 Florida 4–3 Columbus SO Bobrovsky 0 3–0–0 6 Recap 4 January 28 Florida 2–3 Columbus SO Driedger 0 3–0–1 7 Recap 5 January 30 Florida 3–2 Detroit OT Bobrovsky 0 4–0–1 9 Recap 6 January 31 Florida 3–2 Detroit Driedger 0 5–0–1 11 Recap
February: 8–4–2 (Home: 5–3–2 ; Road: 3–1–0) # Date Visitor Score Home OT Decision Attendance Record Pts Recap 7 February 4 Nashville 6–5 Florida OT Bobrovsky 3,698 5–0–2 12 Recap 8 February 5 Nashville 1–2 Florida Driedger 3,977 6–0–2 14 Recap 9 February 7 Detroit 4–1 Florida Driedger 3,706 6–1–2 14 Recap 10 February 9 Detroit 1–2 Florida Bobrovsky 3,477 7–1–2 16 Recap 11 February 11 Tampa Bay 2–5 Florida Bobrovsky 3,808 8–1–2 18 Recap 12 February 13 Tampa Bay 6–1 Florida Bobrovsky 4,509 8–2–2 18 Recap 13 February 15 Florida 6–4 Tampa Bay Driedger 100 9–2–2 20 Recap 14 February 17 Florida 4–3 Carolina OT Driedger 0 10–2–2 22 Recap 15 February 19 Florida 7–2 Detroit Driedger 0 11–2–2 24 Recap 16 February 20 Florida 1–2 Detroit Bobrovsky 0 11–3–2 24 Recap 17 February 22 Dallas 1–3 Florida Driedger 3,510 12–3–2 26 Recap 18 February 24 Dallas 3–0 Florida Driedger 3,324 12–4–2 26 Recap 19 February 25 Dallas 2–3 Florida Bobrovsky 3,844 13–4–2 28 Recap 20 February 27 Carolina 4–3 Florida SO Bobrovsky 4,281 13–4–3 29 Recap
March: 10–5–1 (Home: 4–1–1 ; Road: 6–4–0) # Date Visitor Score Home OT Decision Attendance Record Pts Recap 21 March 1 Carolina 3–2 Florida OT Driedger 3,817 13–4–4 30 Recap 22 March 4 Florida 5–4 Nashville Bobrovsky — 14–4–4 32 Recap 23 March 6 Florida 6–2 Nashville Bobrovsky — 15–4–4 34 Recap 24 March 7 Florida 2–4 Carolina Driedger 2,924 15–5–4 34 Recap 25 March 9 Florida 4–2 Columbus Bobrovsky 3,448 16–5–4 36 Recap 26 March 11 Florida 5–4 Columbus OT Bobrovsky 3,739 17–5–4 38 Recap 27 March 13 Chicago 2–4 Florida Bobrovsky 4,721 18–5–4 40 Recap 28 March 15 Chicago 3–6 Florida Bobrovsky 4,512 19–5–4 42 Recap 29 March 18 Nashville 2–1 Florida Bobrovsky 4,559 19–6–4 42 Recap 30 March 20 Nashville 0–2 Florida Driedger 4,358 20–6–4 44 Recap 31 March 21 Florida 3–5 Tampa Bay Bobrovsky 3,800 20–7–4 44 Recap 32 March 23 Florida 2–3 Chicago Driedger 0 20–8–4 44 Recap 33 March 25 Florida 0–3 Chicago Bobrovsky 0 20–9–4 44 Recap 34 March 27 Florida 4–3 Dallas OT Bobrovsky 4,209 21–9–4 46 Recap 35 March 28 Florida 4–1 Dallas Driedger 4,026 22–9–4 48 Recap 36 March 30 Detroit 1–4 Florida Bobrovsky 4,321 23–9–4 50 Recap
April: 10–5–1 (Home: 6–1–1 ; Road: 4–4–0) # Date Visitor Score Home OT Decision Attendance Record Pts Recap 37 April 1 Detroit 2–3 Florida OT Driedger 4,359 24–9–4 52 Recap 38 April 3 Columbus 2–5 Florida Bobrovsky 4,375 25–9–4 54 Recap 39 April 4 Columbus 0–3 Florida Driedger 4,069 26–9–4 56 Recap 40 April 6 Florida 2–5 Carolina Bobrovsky 4,987 26–10–4 56 Recap 41 April 8 Florida 0–3 Carolina Driedger 4,987 26–11–4 56 Recap 42 April 10 Florida 1–4 Dallas Bobrovsky 4,165 26–12–4 56 Recap 43 April 13 Florida 3–2 Dallas OT Driedger 4,199 27–12–4 58 Recap 44 April 15 Florida 2–3 Tampa Bay OT Driedger 3,800 27–12–5 59 Recap 45 April 17 Florida 5–3 Tampa Bay Bobrovsky 3,800 28–12–5 61 Recap 46 April 19 Columbus 2–4 Florida Bobrovsky 4,041 29–12–5 63 Recap 47 April 20 Columbus 1–5 Florida Knight 4,132 30–12–5 65 Recap 48 April 22 Carolina 4–2 Florida Bobrovsky 4,683 30–13–5 65 Recap 49 April 24 Carolina 3–4 Florida OT Driedger 4,838 31–13–5 67 Recap 50 April 26 Florida 1–4 Nashville Driedger — 31–14–5 67 Recap 51 April 27 Florida 7–4 Nashville Knight — 32–14–5 69 Recap 52 April 29 Florida 4–3 Chicago OT Knight 0 33–14–5 71 Recap
May: 4–0–0 (Home: 3–0–0 ; Road: 1–0–0) # Date Visitor Score Home OT Decision Attendance Record Pts Recap 53 May 1 Florida 5–4 Chicago Bobrovsky 0 34–14–5 73 Recap 54 May 3 Dallas 4–5 Florida OT Knight 4,702 35–14–5 75 Recap 55 May 8 Tampa Bay 1–5 Florida Bobrovsky 5,040 36–14–5 77 Recap 56 May 10 Tampa Bay 0–4 Florida Driedger 5,040 37–14–5 79 Recap
Legend:       Win (2 points)       Loss (0 points)       Overtime/shootout loss (1 point)       Postponement

Playoffs

2021 Stanley Cup playoffs
Central Division First Round vs. (C3) Tampa Bay Lightning: Tampa Bay won 4–2 # Date Visitor Score Home OT Decision Attendance Series Recap 1 May 16 Tampa Bay 5–4 Florida Bobrovsky 9,646 0–1 Recap 2 May 18 Tampa Bay 3–1 Florida Driedger 9,646 0–2 Recap 3 May 20 Florida 6–5 Tampa Bay OT Bobrovsky 9,508 1–2 Recap 4 May 22 Florida 2–6 Tampa Bay Bobrovsky 9,762 1–3 Recap 5 May 24 Tampa Bay 1–4 Florida Knight 11,551 2–3 Recap 6 May 26 Florida 0–4 Tampa Bay Knight 10,092 2–4 Recap
Legend:       Win       Loss

Draft picks

See also: List of Florida Panthers draft picks

Below are the Florida Panthers selection at the 2020 NHL Draft which was held on October 6–7 at NHL Network Studios.

Round	#	Player	Pos	Nationally	College/Junior/Club Team (league)
1	12	Anton Lundell	(C)	FIN	HIFK (Liiga)
2	43	Emil Heineman	(LW)	SWE	Leksands IF (SHL)
3	74	Ty Smilanic	(C)	USA	U.S. NTDP (USHL)
3	87	Justin Sourdif	(RW)	CAN	Vancouver Giants (WHL)
4	105	Zachry Uens	(D)	CAN	Merrimack Warriors (H-East)
5	153	Kasper Puuito	(D)	FIN	Everett Slivertips (WHL)
7	198	Elliot Ekmark	(C)	SWE	Linkoping J20 (SuperElit)
7	212	Devon Levi	(G)	CAN	Carleton Place Canadians (CCHL)