The Florida Panthers are off today before taking on the Columbus Blue Jackets on Tuesday night and, if recent trends hold up, the team’s two-game slide may come to an end in central Ohio.

The Panthers have nine wins in their first 18 games. One of them was a 7-3 thrashing of the Blue Jackets a few weeks ago.

The Blue Jackets are a team searching for an identity right now having lost three of five. They sit just below the .500 mark at 7-8-0.

These are the kind of teams the Panthers have done well against this season.

The better ones? Not so much.

Of Florida’s nine wins this season, only two have come against teams currently holding a playoff position: The opener in OT against Carolina, and on Oct. 17 against Seattle.

When you look at the current NHL playoff standings, you do not see a lot of teams that Florida has played.

It is still very early in the season, after all.

In fact, of the 15 teams holding a playoff spot (not counting the Panthers, who currently hold the final wild-card spot in the East), Florida has only played five of them.

But of the ones they have played, the Panthers have not fared well.

This weekend was another example.

Although Washington is not a playoff team right now, the Capitals are finding their way and sit three points back of the Rangers for third in the Metro and are two back of the Panthers in the wild-card race.

The Panthers do seem to be feasting on the Chicagos and Winnipegs of the world, with almost half of their nine wins coming in their four games with the Blackhawks and Jets.

Throw in the Blue Jackets, Kings, and Canucks and it does feel like the Panthers are feasting on the lower end of the NHL while struggling when the competition ratchets up a bit.

Again, it is very early in the season and the Panthers are right in the playoff mix.

At 9-7-2, they are four points back of the Lightning for third in the division although Tampa Bay has played two fewer games.

But the schedule, certainly, gets tougher.

Although the Panthers play in Columbus and welcome back the Red Wings (7-8-3) on Thursday, the team hits the road again.

After visiting St. Louis and Dallas, the Panthers have a key three-game homestand which leads them into Thanksgiving with Edmonton, Buffalo, and Ottawa coming to Sunrise.

They say that the standings on Thanksgiving will give you a pretty good indicator of who will make the playoffs.

That has some truth to it, with six of the eight teams in the Eastern Conference holding a spot last Nov. 27 making it to the postseason.

So, we shall see.