A little more than three weeks remain in the NHL regular season, and while the Florida Panthers are all but locks to make the playoffs, their path to a Stanley Cup is anything but finalized.

So with time running out, let’s dive into where things stand.

A quick reminder of the NHL playoff format: The top three teams in each division and then the top two remaining teams outside of those six teams earn wild card spots into the postseason.

The division champions would open the playoffs against the wild card teams — the division champion with the most points against the No. 2 wild card; the division champion with the second-most points against the top wild card — and the Nos. 2 and 3 in each division face each other in the first round. From there, the winner of the 2-3 matchup in each division faces the winner of the division champion-wild card playoff matchup in Round 2. The Round 2 winners meet in the conference final to determine who advances to the Stanley Cup Final. All playoff rounds are best-of-7, with the top seeded team hosing Games 1, 2, 5 and 7.

With that, here’s where things stand in the Eastern Conference entering play Monday.

Atlantic Division

1.) Florida Panthers (46-20-5, 97 points, 11 games left)

2.) Boston Bruins (41-16-15, 97 points, 10 games left)

3.) Toronto Maple Leafs (40-21-9, 89 points, 12 games left)

Metropolitan Division

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