Skip navigation
Favorites
Sign up to follow your favorites on all your devices.
Sign up

Discuss: Panthers win first playoff game since 1997, tie series 1-1

Pittsburgh Penguins v Florida Panthers

SUNRISE, FL - NOVEMBER 19: Stephen Weiss #9 of the Florida Panthers is congratulated after scoring the game winning goal in the third period against the Pittsburgh Penguins on November 19, 2011 at the BankAtlantic Center in Sunrise, Florida. The Panthers defeated the Penguins 3-2. (Photo by Joel Auerbach/Getty Images)

Getty Images

After accomplishing a feat they hadn’t managed in 12 years (making the playoffs), the Florida Panthers pulled off something they hadn’t done in 15: actually winning a postseason contest. Not since April 17, 1997 had the Panthers prevailed in a big way - the longest gap in playoff wins in NHL history, according to NBC Sports Network - as the cascade of plastic rats provided a symbolic moment of arrival. The New Jersey Devils cannot totally disregard the seemingly weak third seed any longer now that the series is tied 1-1 thanks to a 4-2 Florida win.

Let’s get the discussion started.


  • Stephen Weiss became the first Panthers player to score two power-play goals in a single playoff game. Is there a player in the entire postseason group of 16 that deserves some relief more than him?
  • Shots on goal don’t tell everything, but they’re a solid indicator of effort from time to time. I’d say it shows in the Devils work to some degree; they went from four in the first to nine in the second and then 12 in the final frame. Is New Jersey’s seemingly uneven play a sign that the Devils aren’t taking the Panthers seriously, that they’re not very good or perhaps a combination of the two? Or something else?
  • So, tell us: what were you doing in April 1997? Were you watching the New York Rangers face the Panthers in Miami, by any chance?
  • The Devils “have home ice advantage,” yet this was a confidence-builder for the Panthers. Do you think Florida has a real chance to win the series?