Florida Panthers: Best moments from 2017 in Pantherland
Happy New Year, Panthers fans! 2017 is a year most Panthers’ fans would love to forget about, filled with multiple losing skids, firing head coach Gerald Gallant, losing Jonathan Marchessault in the expansion draft, and losing multiple fan favorites via free agency and trades.
Although some of those things may bring back feelings that South Florida’s hockey fans are used to, 2017 wasn’t all that bad. The Cats had plenty of good games, festivities, and fun throughout the Chinese year of the rooster. Here are five fantastic Florida Panthers moments from 2017!
March 25th: Chicago Blackhawks 0-7 Florida Panthers
As a fan who was at the BB&T Center for this game, this was a game where I wasn’t the most optimistic. The Blackhawks were going through a dominant second half of the season in which they were marching towards the top spot in the West. On the other end, the Cats had lost three of four and were looking to almost lay down and die. ‘Chicagoans galore’ entered looking for a dominant win from Patrick Kane and co.
The first period was pretty lethargic from both sides, the Panthers were trying to beat the Blackhawks at their own game, taking time to shoot on their possessions and pressuring the Blackhawks in the defensive zone.
The goals started in the second from a slap shot from Aleksander Barkov and the floodgates opened from there. With four points from Jonathan Huberdeau and a hat trick from Jonathan Marchessault, with additional goals from Nick Bjugstad and Reilly Smith, Florida ran riot on Corey Crawford and Scott Darling. James Reimer also completed his first ever shutout as a Panther.
October 7th: Bob Boughner’s First Win
(Tampa Bay Lightning 4-5 Florida Panthers)
Bob Boughner’s first win came in our home opener this season in a 5-4 win over Tampa Bay. The game prior was a defeat in Tampa by a final score of 5-3, so revenge was in the mind of the Panthers’ organization from players to fans.
The game couldn’t have gotten off to a worse start, Nikita Kucherov and Vladislav Namestnikov struck inside the first five minutes to make it 2-0. Under Tom Rowe, the Panthers were awful at responding to adversity, the morale was always low under him, and a lot of me felt that the Panthers were done for.
The Cats did the exact opposite of what my head thought. They turned on the style and pulled a goal back before the end of the first through Evgenii Dadonov on a rebound at the end of the first, then equalized after Dadonov turned provider to Nick Bjugstad with a pinpoint pass.
Despite Brayden Point’s shot that got through Reimer, the Panthers were so dominant that I was confident we would win. Colton Sceviour, Jared McCann, and Vincent Trocheck chipped in with goals in quick file, and despite a consolation goal from Tyler Johnson, the Cats held on for their first win, and in term, Bob Boughner’s first win as an NHL head coach.
April 10th: Dale Tallon Returns as Panthers’ GM
Dale Tallon coming back turned on a lost sense of optimism and pride to the organization. Tallon, of course brought this team up from the ashes to be what it is today, drafting Huberdeau, Barkov, Ekblad, and Bjugstad, trading for Luongo, and acquiring other pieces along the way.
Tallon’s shrewd business through drafting and trades turned the Panthers from a doormat to a division winner. Speaking of his drafting, Tallon still brings some of the funniest ways of presenting the pick, with the hilarious action of holding his voice to announce the pick, which always gets a good laugh out of the fans in attendance.
February 11th-20th: Sweeping California Road Trip & co.
The road trip from the 2016/17 season was a dreaded one at the time, the team looked very pedestrian and had little spark of contending for a wild card spot. Hope was at a low, and a motivation was needed after being smashed 6-3 at home by the Los Angeles Kings.
The trip started in Nashville against the “to-be” Western Conference champions, in which the Panthers put up seven on Juuse Saros in a penalty-filled affair to get a matinée win. The next game came four days later in a nationally televised game against the Sharks. Another game where goals were aplenty, as Nick Bjugstad won the game in overtime, beating Martin Jones.
The Cats then scored four unanswered in a 4-1 win against Anaheim, with a brilliant steal-and-stash from Jaromir Jagr past John Gibson highlighting the night. The streak hit four after the Panthers got revenge on the LA Kings from a week before with a 3-2 win at the Staples Center, Jonathan Huberdeau’s strike played massive to the win.
Another great finale came in the conclusion of the trip in St. Louis, as Vincent Trocheck put the puck past Jake Allen from the blue line with 2.1 seconds left to play, to beat the buzzer, and the Blues. The win streak put Florida just two points back of a playoff spot, and despite not getting that spot in the end, this was one of the happiest week and a halves that Panthers’ fans had all year.
November 10th: Roberto Luongo Becomes 4th all-time in Wins
Roberto Luongo has been a cornerstone of the Florida Panthers franchise, and to see this achievement was incredible. Drafted in 1999 by the Islanders, the Panthers saw promise in the Canadian net minder, and traded Mark Parrish and Oleg Kvasha to Long Island for Olli Jokinen and Roberto Luongo.
He spent some of his time struggling behind a makeshift defense, but gradually got better as his career progressed, averaging a 2.59 GAA in four seasons, completing 22 shutouts. Lu was traded to the Vancouver Canucks in 2006, where he almost caught glimpse of the Stanley Cup, but had it yanked from his hands by Boston in 2011, outlasted by fellow former Panther, Tim Thomas, in seven games.
The Cats brought Lu back in 2014, in exchange for Jacob Markstrom and Shawn Matthias, where Luongo and Steve Anthony headed to South Florida. Not only was this a total fleece by Dale Tallon, but the impact of Luongo was felt massively in 2015-16 as the Cats rampaged back to postseason birth.
This season Luongo won his 455th game in Buffalo against the Sabres, passing Curtis Joseph to 4th on the all-time list. Luongo’s victory was celebrated by all of South Florida to win so many games for the Panthers, and the 38 year-young goalie is still going strong at the moment, recovering from an injury he suffered in December against, what do you know, the Islanders.