a trend I have noticed

How can you tell if the Panthers are going to win a home game?

Well, am I rooting for them, or the visiting team?

If I'm rooting for them, they're almost certainly going to lose. If I'm rooting for the visitors, the Panthers will probably win.

I'm not sure why they've been so consistently disappointing to me this season, losing when I want to see them beat the pants off their opponents and bouncing back when I'd like to see them lie down. They didn't do this last season (then again, last season we caught far fewer games than we've seen this year, since we didn't have the half-season ticket package). But they really have been amazingly consistent this year. I've only seen them win once this season when I wanted them to win (the 2/1 game vs. the Canucks), and I only managed to catch that game on TV.

There's only about a month and a half left in the season at this point, so we'll see if this bizarre track record holds. They're playing the Capitals tonight - in their four previous meetings this season, they've won twice and the Caps have won twice. The Caps are doing pretty well right now, and the Panthers are kind of slumping... but I'll be rooting for the Caps, so I'm betting the Panthers will win. Just to spite me.

(Actually, I'd be fine with either team winning - I have the "home team" thing going with the Caps, but the Panthers really need the points to move up in the Southeast Division right now. They've got no chance at winning the Cup at all this year, but it would still be fun to see them in the first round of the playoffs, even if they did get spanked like the Thrashers did last year.)