1995
The 2-1-0 Panthers would stay on home ice for their third game of a six game homestand. After opening the season with a 4-0 shutout at the hands of the New Jersey Devils, the were Panthers riding a two game winning streak.Their opponents, the Ottawa Senators, opened the season with a 3-1 loss to the Buffalo Sabres on October 7th. They hadn’t played since that date. Here’s the entire recap as printed in the Reading Eagle:
At Miami, Tom Fitzgerald and Stu Barnes scored two goals each to lead Florida over a penalty-prone Ottawa team as the Panthers won their third straight.
Scott Mellanby and Bill Lindsay each had a goal and an assist and Robert Svehla had two assists as Florida tied a club record with three power-play goals in a game.
Ottawa, meanwhile, dropped to 0-8-1 lifetime against Florida.
Mark Fitzpatrick turned aside 26 shots for the Panthers victory. Florida would remain at home to play the New York Islanders, the Chicago Blackhawks, and the Hartford Whalers before hitting the road, while Ottawa would remain in Florida to face the Tampa Bay Lightning on October 15th.
1997
On October 13, 1997, the 1-2-0 Panthers played their home opener against the 1-2-1 New York Islanders. Here’s the AP recap as printed in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:
Bryan Berard showed why he won the Calder Trophy last season as the NHL’s top rookie.
He scored a power-play goal with 26 seconds remaining to lift the New York Islanders to a 2-2 tie with the Florida Panthers. He scored while Florida defenseman Robert Svehla was in the penalty box for tripping.
That negated an outstanding showing by Florida right winger Scott Mellanby, who put his team in the lead with a great burst early in the third period.
Mellanby scored his second goal of the season, off assists from Dave Gagner and goaltender John Vanbiesbrouck, 35 seconds into the third period. Then, 5:01 later, he scored again, off a pass from Esa Tikkanen, a free agent acquired by Florida in the offseason to offset the loss of Brian Skrudland to the New York Rangers.
That gave Florida a 2-1 lead and washed out a goal by Islanders left winger Todd Bertuzzi just 2:39 into the contest. But Berard tied the game off assists from Robert Reichel and Zigmund Palffy.
The Islanders had the better play in the extra period, outshooting Florida, 4-1, but could not beat Vanbiesbrouck again. Vanbiesbrouck finished with 26 saves, while his counterpart, Eric Fichaud, made 25.
Both teams have only one win on the young season, the Panthers owning a record of 1-2-1, and the Islanders at 1-2-2. Florida’s lone win came against the Pittsburgh Penguins last Saturday, 5-3, at the Civic Arena.
The Panthers are home again tonight to face state rival Tampa Bay. Florida is 5-3-2 all-time against the Lightning.
The Panthers would continue to suffer, failing to record two points in eight out of the next 10 matchups. The Islanders would head out west to face the Sharks, the Ducks and the Kings over the following week, going 2-1-0 in the three matches.
1999
The 3-0-1 Panthers, fresh off a 2-1 road win against the Montreal Canadiens, would visit the 3-2-0 Maple Leafs in Toronto the following night, October 13. Here’s the Lakeland Ledger recap:
Yanic Perrault scored the winning goal on a power play late in the third period as the Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Florida Panthers, 3-2, Wednesday night.
Perrault, who is centering Toronto’s top line in the absence of injured captain Mats Sundin, deflected Danny Markov’s point shot with 5:37 remaining for his first goal of the season to break a 2-2 tie.
The Panthers were playing without star right wing Pavel Bure, who was nursing a strained groin.
Jonas Hoglund and Tomas Kaberle also scored for Toronto. Rookie Nikolai Antropov, called up from St. John’s of the AHL to fill Sundin’s roster spot, assisted on Kaberle’s goal.
Rookie Ivan Novoseltsev scored both of Florida’s goals. Playing his first NHL game after being recalled from Louisville of the AHL earlier in the day, the 20-year old Russian opened the scoring with his first NHL goal on a second-period power-play.
Novosletsev tied the game 2-2 early in the third period, also on the power play. Novoseltsev’s linemate Viktor Kozlov had two assists. The loss was the first of the season for Florida after three victories and a tie.
Sundin is out until late November after fracturing a bone in his right ankle Saturday in Ottawa. Bure strained his groin in Florida’s 2-1 win over Montreal on Tuesday when he pivoted awkwardly while reaching for a loose puck.
“It’s just a slight groin strain,” said Pantehrs Coach Terry Murray. “But we have to make sure a player is healthy before putting him in the lineup.”
Murray said there’s a 50-50 chance Bure will return to the lineup when Florida hosts Anaheim Saturday.
Besides Bure, the Panthers were also without forwards Scott Mellanby and Peter Worrell. Mellanby suffered a concussion Tuesday in Montreal, while Worrell has been out all season with a sprained knee.
Florida would return to action at home on October 16th as they opened a three game homestand against Western Conference opponents Anaheim, Vancouver, and Calgary. Toronto would next play the Blackhawks in Chicago on October 15th.
2000
The Panthers were 0-2-0-0 headed home for a matchup with the 1-0-1-0 Carolina Hurricanes after losing to the Boston Bruins, 4-2 on October 9. Here’s the Boca Raton News recap:
Josef Vasicek had a goal and an assist for the Carolina Hurricanes, but the Florida Panthers came from behind twice for a 2-2 tie Friday night.
Pavel Bure, who scored his second goal of the season for Florida in the second period, sat out the final period and overtime with a slight groin injury.
The Panthers (0-2-1) remained winless and have yet to hold a lead, while Carolina (1-0-2) remained unbeaten. The teams have gone into overtime seven times in their past 11 meetings.
There were no penalties in the third period, when both teams played dump-and-chase hockey. Florida’s Ray Whitney had a breakaway with a minute left in overtime but was stopped by Arturs Irbe.
Irbe also stopped a breakaway by Mike Sillinger and finished with 26 saves. Florida’s Trevor Kidd made 22 saves against his former team.
Rob DiMaio’s first goal of the season, on a feed from Martin Gelinas, gave Carolina a 1-0 lead 1:53 in. Sillinger tied it at 3:07 with his first goal and his 100th in nine NHL seasons.
Sami Kapanen stole the puck from Dan Boyle and fed Vasicek, who scored his first goal to put Carolina ahead 2-1 in the second period. Florida tied it again with a power-play goal midway through the second when Bure scored on a rebound of his own miss.
Afterward, the still winless Panthers would hit the road for a three game trip starting October 18th against the Phoenix Coyotes, the Colorado Avalanche, and the Minnesota Wild. The Canes would play three more times on the road before returning to Carolina, playing against the Nashville Predators, the Pittsburgh Penguins, and the Montreal Canadiens.
2001
The 1-3-0-0 Panthers hosted the 1-1-2-0 Philadelphia Flyers on October 13. They had dropped their last game, a 2-0 shutout at the hands of the Ottawa Senators on October 10. After beating the Panthers on opening day, 5-2, the Flyers twice tied the Columbus Blue Jackets before losing to the Buffalo Sabres, 2-1. The matchup was chronicled in the Daily Gazette:
John LeClair and Ruslan Fedotenko scored 17 seconds apart in the second period, and the Philadelphia Flyers took a season-high 53 shots on goal in a victory over the Florida Panthers.
The Flyers ended a three-game winless streak since beating the Panthers in the season opener.
Philadelphia broke the game open with three goals on 21 shots in the second period.
Panthers goalie Trevor Kidd finished with 48 saves. In defeat, Florida’s Pavel Bure scored his first goal of the season, poking a shot past Roman Cechmanek at 9:44 of the third period.
Phildelphia would next visit the Atlanta Thrashers before finishing up their five game road trip against the Detroit Red Wings. Florida would go on to face the Vancouver Canucks, the Calgary Flames, and the Edmonton Oilers on a three game road tilt starting on October 16.
2003
In 2003, the 1-0-1-0 Panthers would visit the 0-2-0-0 Carolina Hurricanes on October 13. They had earned their first victory of the season in the opener against the ‘Canes four days prior before tying the Boston Bruins on the 11th. The Hurricanes were fresh off a 2-1 setback to the New Jersey Devils. Here’s an excerpt from the ESPN.COM recap:
The Hurricanes scored one goal in each of their first two losses and did one better than that against the Panthers, but Luongo was as tough to beat as four days ago when the Panthers defeated Carolina 3-1.
Carolina had an opportunity to put the game away late in regulation when Matt Cullen took a tripping penalty with 4:23 left, but Luongo came up big with several key saves. The Hurricanes are 0-2-1 — their worst start since 1997-98.
Mike Keenan spoke afterward about goalie Roberto Luongo, who stopped 33-of-35 shots for the win.
“He was spectacular,” Florida coach Mike Keenan said of his goalie. “We’ll have to send that into the National Hockey League for the highlight reel — especially that glove save.”
Kristian Huselius and Marcus Nilson tallied Florida’s goals, Nilson added an assist, while defenseman Mike Van Ryn dished out two. Florida would return to Sunrise to host the Phoenix Coyotes two nights later.
2005
Florida was 3-1-0 after beating the New York Islanders on the road, 3-1, on October 10th. They hosted the 2-2-0 Boston Bruins on October 13. Here’s part of the NHL.COM recap:
The Bruins, who were held to three goals in four games by Luongo in 2003-04, matched that total in just over a period in knocking out Luongo on the way to a 5-2 victory Thursday night.
Luongo, the NHL s defensive player of the week, was pulled after Bergeron’s goal made it 3-0 at 5:26 of the second period.
The Panthers seemed to come to life after Luongo was pulled, outshooting Boston 13-3 the rest of the second period and cutting Boston’s lead to 3-2.
Afterward, forward Glen Murray spoke to the press about Luongo:
“He’s one of the best, no question, to force him out is pretty good. Maybe he had an off night.”
The Panthers would stay home to face the Buffalo Sabres, while the Bruins finished up their six game road trip against the Ottawa Senators and the Montreal Canadiens.
2006
On October 13th, the 2-1-1 Panthers would host the 1-2-0 Tampa Bay LIghtning in the first game of a home-and-home series. Here’s part of the NHL.COM recap:
Jay Bouwmeester wasn’t trying for the first game-winning goal of his career. He just got it.
Bouwmeester scored with nine minutes left in the third period to break a tie and Alexander Auld made 21 saves as the Florida Panthers beat Tampa Bay 3-2 on Friday night, the Lightning’s third straight loss.
Bouwmeester’s power-play goal gave Florida a 3-2 lead. His shot from just inside the blue line above the right circle slid past Johan Holmqvist, who was screened on the play.
Nathan Horton and Juraj Kolnik added goals for Florida, and Olli Jokinen pitched in with two assists. Alex Auld took the victory with a strong 21-for-23 effort. Ryan Craig and Vincent Lecavalier lit the lamp for the Bolts.
Jokinen, Florida’s captain at the time, spoke afterward about Auld:
“Both goalies played well but we were able to get that power-play goal at the end and that was enough,” Jokinen said. “Auld was good again. He made some really nice saves at the end.”
The two faced off again the following night in Tampa Bay, where the Lightning would try to get even (but we’ll get to that tomorrow).
2007
After losing three straight games to start the season, the 1-3-0 Panthers were hoping to win their second in a row against the visiting 3-0-0 Tampa Bay Lightning. In their last game, the Bolts had defeated the Cats, 2-1. The Panthers went on to shutout the New Jersey Devils, 3-0. According to NHL.COM.
Jokinen had a goal and two assists to tie Scott Mellanby for Florida’s career scoring lead in the Panthers’ 6-4 victory over Tampa Bay on Saturday night.
Nathan Horton, Ruslan Salei, Stephen Weiss, Richard Zednik and Jozef Stumpel also scored for the Panthers, who handed Tampa Bay its first loss of the season.
Florida built a 5-1 lead in the third period, but Tampa Bay rallied to close to 5-4 with 8:44 left. Jokinen answered with a goal on a 5-on-3 power play to seal the victory.
Jokinen talked about his milestone after the game:
“Before the season, I knew the stats,” said Jokinen, who has 156 goals and 198 assists for 354 points in seven season with Florida. “But the main thing is we got two points.”
The Lightning would get the next five days off before traveling to Boston to face the Bruins. Florida took to the road for a three game Canadian road trip, starting in Montreal on October 16th before moving on to play the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Ottawa Senators.
Lightning @ Panthers 10/13/07 (via NHLVideo)
Florida has gone 4-3-2 in games played on October 13th. Make sure you check back here every day for all your Florida Panthers news, lockout or otherwise.