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SUNRISE [url=http://www.ramscheapshop.com/cheap-authentic-pharoh-cooper-jersey]Pharoh Cooper Jersey[/url] , Fla. — The Boston Bruins clinched a playoff berth, and just how motivated they will be to beat the host Florida Panthers on Thursday night at the BB&T Center remains to be seen.

The Florida Panthers, on the other hand, are fighting for their hockey lives. They must win their three remaining games — home-and-home with the Bruins sandwiching a contest against the Buffalo Sabres — and hope that either the Columbus Blue Jackets, New Jersey Devils or Philadelphia Flyers stumble the rest of this week.

“We have to win out,” Panthers winger Jonathan Huberdeau said. “We have to win every game.”

Meanwhile, the Bruins (49-18-12) are locked in a fight with the Tampa Bay Lightning for first place in the Atlantic Division. Both teams have 110 points, but Boston has one game in hand.

On Tuesday night, the Bruins were embarrassed in a 4-0 loss at the Lightning. It was Boston’s second straight defeat — and that is not the way a team wants to head into the playoffs.

Bruins goalie Tuukka Rask has had a great season with a 2.32 goals-against average and a 34-12-5 record. But his performance on Tuesday against Tampa Bay was not his best.

“Two goals from distance — he’s been better (in other games), and I think he would be the first one to say that,” Boston coach Bruce Cassidy said. “The second goal might have been through traffic. But the first one simply can’t go in.

“We didn’t score … so it might not have mattered.”

So there you have it: A desperate Panthers team that needs to win and hope for help to make it as an Eastern Conference wild-card playoff team competing against a Bruins squad that is already in but wants to be sharper as it prepares for the postseason.

The Panthers are coming off their most dramatic game of the year, a 2-1 home win over Nashville Predators, a team with the best record in the NHL.

With the Panthers clinging to that 2-1 lead, Nashville pulled its goalie for an extra attacker during the final three minutes. Panthers center Aleksander Barkov had a chance at an empty-net goal to ice the game, but his shot hit the post.

Given a reprieve, Nashville turned up the pressure. Incredibly [url=http://www.ramscheapshop.com/cheap-authentic-mark-barron-jersey]Mark Barron Jersey[/url] , the Predators scored with 0.3 seconds left as Filip Forsberg tapped in a loose puck. But after a dramatic video review, it was ruled that Panthers goalie Roberto Luongo had stopped the puck before Nashville’s Viktor Arvidsson spun him around with his stick.

Goalie interference was the call, and Luongo — naturally — agreed.

“At first, I wasn’t sure what happened,” Luongo said. “But once I saw the replay, the puck was between my legs. (Arvidsson) pitch-forked me. As he spun me around, the puck came loose.

“(The puck) was definitely under me. It was between my legs and covered. Once he spun me around, the puck came out. It’s pretty clear.”

Luongo, who turned 39 on Wednesday, gave a shout out to the replay crew after beating Nashville in career game No. 999

“I was happy they made the right call,” he said. “It would’ve been upsetting if it would’ve been ruled a goal. (During the review), I was trying not to snap if they allowed the goal. That’s what I kept telling myself.”

Boston still has a shot to overtake Nashville in the race for the Presidents’ Trophy, trailing by three points with a game in hand.

For Thursday’s game, one player to watch is Florida’s Colton Sceviour, normally a bottom-six forward. In the Panthers’ past two games, however [url=http://www.bengalscheapshop.com/cheap-authentic-cordy-glenn-jersey]Cordy Glenn Jersey[/url] , he made a third-period, game-winning play in each. He got a hit and an assist that led to the winning goal against the Carolina Hurricanes and scored the winning goal against Nashville.

Florida is relatively healthy. Boston, meanwhile, will be without defenseman Brandon Carlo (ankle) and winger Anders Bjork (shoulder). In addition, two key players, winger Rick Nash (upper body) and center Riley Nash (ear), are questionable.

For those who think game plans and play calls are complex, it would be helpful to take a behind-the-scenes look at the medical setups that go into an NFL game.

Talk about multi-faceted.

The league provided such an opportunity at US Bank Stadium this week, and it was enlightening.

From the spotters’ booth upstairs to the exam rooms, locker rooms and ETM facilities in the bowels of the building to the blue tent on the sideline, dozens of people are involved in health and safety protocols.

They range from neurotrauma physicians and athletic trainers to data technicians to ambulance drivers and emergency personnel, with perhaps 30 medical folks on the sideline.

Even the game referee is a part of the procedures.

The league has been criticized for years that it rarely has had player safety and health as a focal point, and it’s placed a high priority on upgrading every such area.

Game day includes a pregame meeting, new this season, held 60 minutes before kickoff that involves everybody on the health side of football.

”It’s a big group,” said Dr. Allen Sills [url=http://www.jaguarscheapshop.com/cheap-authentic-austin-seferian-jenkins-jersey]Austin Seferian-Jenkins Jersey[/url] , the league’s chief medical officer.

That group goes over the Emergency Action Plan, an exhaustive outline that describes who does what in virtually every case of injury or emergency. It’s so detailed that it includes arm or hand signals to help all involved determine what action is needed.

”The collaborative effort between teams is where it should be … seamless and flawless,” said Vikings head athletic trainer Eric Sugarman.

The emphasis, of course, is on immediate treatment whenever an injury occurs. The hour-long meeting’s value became apparent when Bears tight end Zach Miller dislocated his left knee and tore an artery that supplies blood to the lower leg in a game at New Orleans. Miller could have lost the leg had it not been for the quick action by the well-schooled medical staffs.

”These are the kind of situations we’re practicing for,” Sills said. ”They’re incredibly rare, but we want to be prepared for it.”

They need to be prepared for injuries large and small, ranging from situations when a visit to the blue tent is enough – a retaped ankle, perhaps – to sending a player inside to an examination room, or even to the hospital for particularly major issues.

U.S. Bank Stadium has a specific ”quiet room” for examining concussions – all stadiums must have an area for such exams. Naturally, with revelations in recent years about the dangers of concussions in football, more attention is paid to head trauma than ever.

In that ”quiet room” are the unaffiliated neurotrauma consultant and a team physician or member of the team medical staff. They compare the player’s baseline test to his current status. Sugarman said he has never seen a disagreement between them about a player’s condition after the 10-12 minute exam.

”Sometimes, after two minutes you know they’ll fail the test,” Sugarman said.

No one from a team – coaches, executives, owners – is allowed into any of the exam areas [url=http://www.brownscheapshop.com/cheap-authentic-james-burgess-jersey]James Burgess Jersey[/url] , not even the blue tent just a few yards away on the sideline.

”I don’t have owners telling me to get him ready … sooner,” Sugarman added.

The roles of the concussion spotters have increased in importance and attention after a handful of players, most notably Houston quarterback Tom Savage, clearly were hurt but didn’t get the immediate care required. There will be four UNCs – unaffiliated neurotrauma consultants – at this Super Bowl. Typically, each sideline is staffed by one. After the protocol changed in December following the Savage case, an additional one was added for the playoffs, as well as a centralized UNC based at the league. That central UNC will be in the spotter booth for the Super Bowl.

The jobs are usually filled in each city by certified athletic trainers charged with noticing player head injuries from their upstairs booth. The spotters are paired with video technicians who watch the broadcast feed and tag plays that result in injuries – although they’re not always easy to spot.

A spotter can communicate with sideline medical personnel in a variety of ways. If there’s a reason to stop the game to get an injured player off the field, he has that power, often shouting into his device: ”Medical Timeout.”

The referee will stop the game when so instructed; Sills estimated it occurred eight to 10 times this season.

A sideline monitor then can show video of the play to team or unaffiliated medical personnel. A decision can be made more quickly and accurately about the next steps, if any are needed, and the medical staff has a better idea of what happened than how the player might describe it.

Sugarman is more than grateful for the assistance and the technology that makes it possible.

”People like me might have looked at it with a crooked eye,” he said with a smile. ”Big Brother looking over your shoulder. But it’s been invaluable. You can’t see everything. It’s very protective to know they’re looking out for you.”

Last summer for the first time the league brought together all sorts of medical staffers from each team, plus unaffiliated consultants and spotters for a training session dedicated to head trauma and concussions. Those sessions will continue.

Sills bristles when he hears that the NFL is not doing enough regarding head injuries. Standing in a specialized X-ray room underneath the Super Bowl stadium, he vigorously defends the NFL concussion policy.

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