On Frozen Pond

Florida Panthers Celebrate First Division Title, Beat Carolina Canes 4-1 ... Cats Have a Full-Blown Goalie Controversy Going

BY GEORGE RICHARDS grichards@MiamiHerald.com

TWITTER: @OnFrozenPond

FACEBOOK: On Frozen Pond

The Panthers held fan appreciation night Saturday and finally gave their patrons something to truly celebrate.

Instead of looking to the distant future and dreading another long offseason, the Panthers regular season finale marked not the final game of the year but a new start.

For the first time since 2000, Florida is going to the Stanley Cup playoffs. And, by virtue of Saturday's 4-1 win over Carolina, the Panthers celebrated with the first division championship in franchise history in front of an announced 19,087 at BankAtlantic Center.

Florida spent a total of 128 days atop the division including the past 43.

“It wasn't given, it was an earned title,'' coach Kevin Dineen said. “There have been some highs and lows and we haven't had many Ws lately. To win this one is great satisfaction. I like to look at the short term and this is very enjoyable. It makes for a happy Easter and then we'll get going on Monday.''

The Southeast Division champion Panthers are the third seed in the opening round of the playoffs and will face former coach Pete DeBoer and the New Jersey Devils. Game 1 is expected to be held Thursday at the BankAtlantic Center. DeBoer was fired the day after last season's finale.

"When we played them the first time, I'm not going to lie, there was some emotion involved," DeBoer told reporters after New Jersey's win over Ottawa on Saturday. "But it's another team for me now. It doesn't matter. Other than having a few more friends in the stands, that's about it."

The Panthers head into the playoffs feeling a little better about themselves as the win snapped a five-game winless streak. It also added fuel to what now has to be a full-blown goalie controversy.

Backup Scott Clemmensen made yet another strong case for himself as he stopped 34 shots to continue his strong play. Considering how well Clemmensen has played against New Jersey – his former employers – Dineen definitely has a hard decision to make.
Theodore, who gave up nine goals in losses to Winnipeg and Washington, is just 8-14-3 against the Devils and 1-0-1 against them this season.

Clemmensen, who spent most of his career with the Devils before coming to the Panthers in 2009, is 4-0 against New Jersey and 1-0 this season.

Clemmensen got plenty of offensive help as the Panthers looked fresh and loose what with the pressure of making the playoffs off their backs. The Panthers jumped to a 2-0 lead within the opening seven minutes as Marcel Goc and John Madden scored within a span of 2:41.

“This was a big game for us and two goals right off the bat was huge,'' said Clemmensen, who is 3-0-1 in his past four games with just five goals surrendered. “It was a lot of fun to play here [Saturday].''

Goc totally faked out backup Brian Boucher and was able to walk in and pot the puck into an empty net 4:02 into the game. Madden then got his third of the season as he took a nice feed from Tomas Kopecky in front of the net and popped in a shot.

Florida didn't get too many more chances after that, although it did cash in on a power play midway through the second when Stephen Weiss banged in a juicy rebound off a Mikael Samuelsson shot.

Although the Panthers coughed up a 3-0 lead last Tuesday against Winnipeg, this one felt safe. And with Washington dominating the Rangers in New York, Florida didn't have worry about scoreboard watching. Had the Panthers lost in regulation, the Capitals would have taken the division.

“Honestly it's a great feeling,'' Weiss said. “The last game here against Winnipeg was tough to swallow. It was nice to win here in front of our fans. They deserve this. They've been great sticking with us. I'm happy for them.''

NEWS, NOTES

Weiss played in his 637th NHL game on Saturday, the final regular season game he will play without reaching the postseason. Former teammate Jay Bouwmeester left the organization in 2008 for pastures that haven't exactly been greener.

Bouwmeester, in his third season with Calgary, holds the active mark of 717 games without appearing in a playoff game. Former Panthers captain Olli Jokinen went a record 799 games before Calgary made it to the postseason in 2009.

The Panthers will make their fourth appearance in the postseason this week after a record 11-year (10 season) drought.

--Dineen said Saturday morning that he didn't realize the Panthers reached the playoffs until after everyone else did. With about three minutes left in Tuesday's game, the Capitals scoreboard showed that Philadelphia had beaten Buffalo – clinching a spot for the Panthers.

“I think you get wrapped up into [the game],'' Dineen said. “They had it on the screen, I guess, a couple of minutes before, but I missed that. So I didn’t know until after. There was still disappointment you lost the game, but there was a moment right then when I was told where I was like, 'whoa, a lot of work went into securing a playoff spot.' .-.-. I think there’s a level of satisfaction that a lot of work went into getting us in the postseason.”

--Carolina's Jeremy Welsh had quite a week in the Sunshine State. On Thursday, he played for Union College in the Frozen Four in Tampa then signed a deal with the Hurricanes after Ferris State beat the Dutchmen 3-1.

On Saturday, Welsh made his NHL debut against the Panthers.  

Florida Panthers: 2011-12 Southeast Division Champions

The Florida Panthers pulled off quite a feat Saturday as they went from worst-to-first by claiming the franchise's first Southeast Division title.

The Panthers finished the past two seasons at the bottom of the division for the first time in franchise history. Last year's last place finish in the Eastern Conference was also a first. 

Florida ends Washington's four-year run atop the division as the Panthers spent 128 days atop the division -- including the past 43.

Add a few more months to that tally.

The Panthers become the first team aside from Washington to win the division since Atlanta won its one and only in 2007. 

 

Florida Panthers Franchise May Be Inexperienced in Postseason, Roster is Not

FLORIDA PANTHERS IN THE PLAYOFFS

Stanley Cup champion

John Madden (New Jersey 2, Chicago)

Brian Campbell (Chicago)

Tomas Kopecky (Detroit, Chicago)

Mikael Samuelsson (Detroit)

Kris Versteeg (Chicago)

Postseason games played (goals-asst; TEAM)

134 – John Madden (21-22; NJD, CHI)

92 – Mikael Samuelsson (22-31; DET, VAN)

90 – Brian Campbell (8-30; BUF, SJ, CHI)

69 – Ed Jovanovski (11-19; FLA, VAN, PHX)

61 – Marco Sturm (9-13; SJ, BOS, LAK)

51 – Jose Theodore (19-28, 2.82 GAA; MON, COL, WSH)

50 – Kris Versteeg (11-21; PHL, CHI)

43 – Marcel Goc (3-6; SJ, NSH)

31 – Jerred Smithson (2-1; NSH)

30 – Tomas Kopecky (4-3; DET, CHI)

27 – Wotjek Wolski (8-9; COL, PHX, NYR)

22 – Tomas Fleischmann (2-3; WSH)

19 – Scottie Upshall (3-4; PHL, NSH)

16 – Sean Bergenheim (9-2; TB)

4 – Mike Weaver (0-0; STL)

3 – Krys Barch (0-0; DAL)

1 – Scott Clemmensen (0-0, 0.00; NJD)

Postseason debut (games played, franchise)*

Stephen Weiss (636, FLA)

Shawn Matthias (204, FLA)

Dmitry Kulikov (197, FLA)

Jason Garrison (189, FLA)

Mike Santorelli (174, NSH, FLA)

Keaton Ellerby (116, FLA)

Erik Gudbranson (71, FLA)

(*) – Not including Saturday's season finale v. Carolina

 

Florida Panthers, South Florida Ready for the Stanley Cup Playoffs

BY GEORGE RICHARDS grichards@MiamiHerald.com

TWITTER: @OnFrozenPond

FACEBOOK: On Frozen Pond

A small group gathered at the BankAtlantic Center on Saturday morning while countless others sat in front of computers at home to do something not seen in these parts for some time.

Stanley Cup playoff tickets officially went on sale Saturday morning. For the first time in over a decade, South Florida is invited to the party.

“This is, by far, the best time of the season,'' said Sean Bergenheim, a playoff hero for the Lightning last season with nine postseason goals. 

“This is when the fun begins. Not that the regular season isn't fun, but this has a little extra. We're hoping to do something here that hasn't been done in a long time. I'm really excited. We all are. You get one or two wins and everything snowballs. That's what happened for us in Tampa last year.''

By virtue of Philadelphia's 2-1 victory over Buffalo on Thursday, the Panthers clinched a spot in the postseason for the first time since 2000.

The Panthers run of 11 years and 10 seasons (2004-05 was wiped out because of a labor lockout) between appearances is an NHL record that may not be conquered. Toronto holds the current drought as the Maple Leafs are in their seventh straight postseason-free April. 

“I have no idea what it will be like to be honest with you,'' said Stephen Weiss, a Toronto native who will make his postseason debut with the Panthers after 637 NHL regular season games. 

“I hope it will be like other buildings that you see on TV: Pandemonium, 20,000 people standing and waving towels the whole game. I'm looking forward to it. I hope the fans do as well. I just want to get it going; stop talking about it.''

The Panthers may not be going into the playoffs playing their best hockey of the year. Florida had lost eight of nine and five straight coming into Saturday's regular season finale. But the playoffs are a new season. Everything a team has going for it needs to be forgotten as it doesn't matter what you did in the regular season. Same with a team on a negative run. 

Everything, in the playoffs, starts fresh. It's spring cleaning for hockey teams.

“I guess the word ‘amped up’ is something you would use,'' coach Kevin Dineen said. “The  level of intensity gets amped up, the level of importance at every faceoff, every finished check. Those are things you talk to your players about, but it’s not really needed because they recognize it and they know there’s a lot of other teams sitting at home that would  love to be a part of where you are right now. 

“You want to continue that feeling. It can last for a week or it can last for almost three months.''

The Panthers transformation from being the worst team in the Eastern Conference to one of its playoff teams started last February. Convinced the Panthers were not a playoff team, general manager Dale Tallon systematically began dumping veteran salaries via trades at the deadline. 

Tallon traded captain Bryan McCabe to the Rangers, Cory Stillman and Bryan Allen to the Hurricanes, Radek Dvorak to Atlanta and Dennis Wideman to the Capitals. Although the Panthers looked like a minor league team with some big names still around (Stephen Weiss, Tomas Vokoun, David Booth, etc.), the short-term pain was for long-term results. 

“That was one of the low points of my time here,'' Weiss said. 

Tallon had about $18 million committed to salaries when he went to the June draft and needed to get the payroll up to about $40 million to hit the salary cap floor. Tallon, with all that money in his pocket, remade the roster in a hurry. The first move was getting defensemen Brian Campbell from Chicago in a trade. 

Once Campbell waived his no-trade clause, other players around the league noticed. Finally, free agents were taking the Panthers seriously. One by one, players headed south. 

On opening day, the Panthers had 14 different players suited up than they did the previous year. Dineen, hired to replace the fired Pete DeBoer, did a nice job putting all the new pieces together.

“We had some pretty sketchy preseason games but we're all pros and coming together as quick as possible was one of our goals,'' said Ed Jovanovski, who started his career in Florida in 1994 and returned by signing a four-year deal on July 1. “We all played hard for each other and things just fell into place.''

Dineen now goes into the playoffs with plenty of experience at his call. Of Florida's 23 roster players all but Weiss and six others have previous playoff experience. Kris Versteeg, Mikael Samuelsson, Tomas Kopecky, Campbell and John Madden all have their name engraved on the Stanley Cup. 

“We're not green,'' Dineen said, “by any means.''

Jovanovski, for instance, is no stranger to the postseason and is a link to the Panthers playoff past.

Of Florida's 31 postseason games in franchise history, Jovanovski has played in 27 of them. Twenty-two of those games came in Florida's fabled run to the Stanley Cup Finals in 1996 while Jovanovski was a fresh-faced rookie. 

Although 'JovoCop' has some more miles on the odometer, talk of making a deep run into the playoffs brings a childish grin to his face. 

“Everyone said we didn't have a chance early on and we were pretty motivated,'' he said. “This is the best time of the year, what we all play for. This is the big stage. We have some guys who have never been here, but a lot who have. It's going to be fun. The building is going to rock.''

  

Florida Panthers By the Numbers: 2000-2012

What the Florida Panthers have done since last making the playoffs:

-- Seasons: 10. Years: 11. 

--Won 346 games, lost 499 (116 in overtime/shootout) and tied 51*.

--Have accumulated 861* points (average of 78.3 per season) 

--Have had eight coaches (Terry Murray, Duane Sutter, Mike Keenan, Rick Dudley, John Torchetti, Jacques Martin, Pete DeBoer and Kevin Dineen).

--Have had eight general managers (Bryan Murray, Bill Torrey, Chuck Fletcher, Dudley, Keenan, Martin, Randy Sexton and Dale Tallon).

--Have had five captains (Scott Mellanby, Pavel Bure, Paul Laus, Olli Jokinen, Bryan McCabe).

--Have had three arena names (National Car Rental/Office Depot/BankAtlantic Center).

--Have had eight Top 10 draft picks (Stephen Weiss, Jay Bouwmeester, Nathan Horton, Rostislav Olesz, Michael Frolik, Keaton Ellerby, Erik Gudbranson, Jonathan Huberdeau). 

(*) Numbers do not include Saturday's season finale v. Carolina. 

Florida Panthers Long, Bumpy Road Back to the Playoffs ... It's Been an Interesting Decade in South Florida

FLORIDA PANTHERS: A DECADE-PLUS OF DROUGHT

1999-2000: Led by Pavel Bure's league-leading 58 goals, the Panthers get 98 points to earn the franchise's third postseason berth. Florida promptly gets swept by eventual champ New Jersey.

2000-01: Panthers trade for Roberto Luongo and Olli Jokinen yet start slow and clean house by firing GM Bryan Murray and coach Terry Murray. Team ends with 66 points and misses the playoffs.

2001-02: Wayne Huizenga sells team to group led by Alan Cohen and Bernie Kosar. The fiery Mike Keenan is brought in to coach after slow start; Bure is traded. Team gets franchise-low 60 points. Franchise's place in South Florida market quickly fades.

2002-03: Another slow start to the season dooms the Panthers as Jokinen comes into his own by leading team with 36 goals. Team finishes fourth in division, misses playoffs.

2003-04: GM Rick Dudley wins power struggle with Keenan (this time), coaches team himself for a bit after firing Iron Mike. Team goes into lockout year by finishing 1-6-2.

2004-05: Season wiped out by lockout but plenty of drama beforehand. Dudley and coach John Torchetti are canned in favor of, yes, new GM Mike Keenan and coach Jacques Martin. 

2005-06: New era of NHL doesn't help Panthers fortunes as team finishes fourth in division despite bringing in vets such as Joe Nieuwendyk, Gary Roberts, Martin Gelinas and Jozef Stumpel. 85 points is an improvement.

2006-07: Keenan trades Luongo to Vancouver in June in a most lopsided deal then is fired on Labor Day. Martin takes over as coach and GM. Ed Belfour comes to town and brings his special brand of fun. Martin trades Todd Bertuzzi (main piece of Luongo trade) after back injury limits him to 7 games.

2007-08: Panthers make a nice run for the playoffs and win seven straight from March 2-16. But three straight divisional losses doom team to golf course again. Martin fired as coach, stays as GM. Jokinen is traded to Phoenix by Martin at the draft.

2008-09: New coach Pete DeBoer's bunch ties Montreal for eighth place but loses tiebreaker as Canadiens have a more shootout wins. Rule is changed, but too late for Panthers. Martin quits to coach Canadiens. Jay Bouwmeester traded before he can walk away as free agent.

2009-10: Season starts in Finland and team gets off to slow start. New GM Randy Sexton compares team to 'Titanic,' leading new owners to write letter to fans saying 'enough is enough.' Sexton cleans house at deadline, team finishes last in division for first time in history.

2010-11: Sexton is replaced by Dale Tallon in May and Nathan Horton is traded by June. Tallon decides team isn't making playoffs, goes on salary dump at deadline; team looks like it should be in the AHL. DeBoer is fired a day after team finishes last in Eastern Conference for first time in history. 

2011-12: Tallon uses money dumped in previous season to go on a spending spree in the summer, bringing in 13 new players to re-tool the roster. Fueled by new players, coach Kevin Dineen and retro red uniforms, Panthers start strong and advance to the playoffs for the first time since 2000.

 

OnFrozenPhone: Panthers Playoff Tickets on Sale!

SUNRISE -- The Panthers put playoff tickets on sale Saturday morning. A few hearty souls braved the 88 degree weather -- and the easterly winds -- to get first crack at them.

Or, as one fan noted, it could have been for Van Halen.

Of course, tickets are also sold on this new thing called 'the internet.'