Happy Monday Florida Panther and any other hockey fans that might be reading this.  Hope you had a good weekend.  At least as nice as you could make it under the circumstances.  I also hope you had a chance to catch the two games I posted on Saturday and Sunday.  If not, I suggest you do so that you can try to cure your hockey fix.

Today we go to a game that’s not so far back into Panther history.  March 23, 2017 is the date, and villan Tom Rowe is the head coach at the time.  We won’t rehash all of that, but this was not a great season by any stretch of the imagination.  Especially after being division winners the year before.

A bunch of ill fated off season moves by the Panthers, starting with the trading of Erik Gudbranson, among others, gave the Panthers a new look.  Less physical, less leadership, and less Gerard Gallant.  I said at the time when all of this happened, that it would set the team back 3-4 years.  Well, here we are.  But I digress……let’s get to the game.

The Arizona Coyotes were in town, and as per usual when most Western Conference teams come to South Florida, the crowd was sparse.  Under 12,000 was the “reported” attendance.  The Panthers and Rowe, as you’ll hear in the press conference below, still thought they had a chance to make the playoffs.

The scoring began with an early goal by Arizona’s Tobias Reider, who picked up his 16th of the season.  That would end the scoring for the Coyotes as Florida would score three unanswered goals to win by a final of 3-1.  Shawn Thornton scored the first goal of the game,  It was his second of the season. Jonathan Marchessault scored the next two, his 24th and 25th of the year.

Here’s the game highlights:

You saw Keith Yandle doing Keith Yandle things early in the video.

Here was Tom Rowe after the game.  Still thinking the Panthers would make the playoffs.

The Panthers won their next game, and then lost the next 6 in a row, before winning their final two games. Fortunately fan favorite Tom Rowe did not return as head coach the following season.

Thanks for reading.

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