News from January 2001

Bure (2 goals) powers Cats
Florida secures 3-2 OT victory over cross-state rival Lightning
by David J. Neal - - Miami Herald
January 28, 2001

In the past five seasons, no matter if the Panthers were jet high or so low they undercut ocean-floor sponges, they never suffered a loss at home to Tampa Bay, their cross-state rival and the losingest franchise in the NHL over that span.

And because of two lovely passes from defensemen Saturday night, one in the third period to Marcus Nilson and one in overtime to Pavel Bure, the Panthers still haven't had to endure such a loss. Nilson's goal tied the score in the third period, and Bure's second goal of the game -- 59 seconds into OT -- gave Florida a 3-2 win at National Car Rental Center.

From low along the left boards, Panthers defenseman Robert Svehla spotted Bure cutting to the net in front of Tampa Bay rookie Brad Richards. Svehla rifled a pass across to Bure, who redirected it into the net.

``It started with [Panthers center Rob] Niedermayer,'' Bure said. ``He went inside the zone and turned, so everybody had to react. Then, he passed it to [Svehla] and [Svehla] saw me.''

It was the first win since Jan. 4 for goalie Trevor Kidd, a surprise starter who stopped 19 of 21 shots. It was also the only victory for the Southeast Division on Saturday -- the Capitals, Hurricanes and Thrashers all lost. The Panthers (11-26-8-7) moved within four points of third-place Atlanta, three ahead of last-place Tampa Bay.

In their NHL-high 17 overtime games, the Panthers have two wins -- both at home against the Lightning. They're 10-0-2 against Tampa Bay at home since a 2-1 loss on April 10, 1996.

That streak was 5:13 from ending. For the first time in six games, the Panthers trailed (2-1) entering the third period.

Panthers defenseman Bret Hedican, from outside the left circle, found Nilson at the right post with a pass that took its time getting across the slot. But it got there, and Nilson had an open net to tie the score 2-2.

``He tried to get it on net, but I think he kind of fanned on it,'' Nilson said. ``It went slowly to the far post. I was going to the net for the rebound.''

Said Lightning coach John Tortorella: ``Our coverage was there on the second goal. I just don't understand why . . . It was a funny goal because it went through three people.''

The goal was Nilson's first in 15 games. ``I think out of the 15 games, he has been probably below average one night, maybe two nights at the most,'' Panthers coach Duane Sutter said. ``For a kid that age to be able to add something to the Kozlov-Bure line, especially down low cycling, it makes a big impact.''

Tampa had control early, taking a 1-0 lead at 8:11 of the first on Fredrik Modin's 22nd goal of the season.

The past several games have seen Kozlov return to his form of last season, particularly when matched with Bure. For the second consecutive game, Kozlov served up a gimme goal to Bure with a dazzling pass that slithered past several opponents.

Kozlov was twirling below the goal line left of the net when he backhanded a pass to Bure in the right circle. With goalie Kevin Weekes scrambling to get over, Bure had plenty of room to drill his 27th goal of the season. Kozlov's assist extended his points streak to five games.

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Bolts crumble in OT
by Ira Kaufman - - The Tampa Tribune
January 28, 2001

Once again, the Lightning had a chance to win in the third period and once again, the league's youngest team couldn't close the deal.

The only difference Saturday night was they waited until overtime before skating off distraught.

The Panthers tied the score with 5:13 remaining in regulation and Pavel Bure registered the winner 59 seconds into overtime in Florida's 3-2 triumph.

Bure, who had six shots, beat rookie Brad Richards to the front of the net and converted Robert Svehla's centering pass from the bottom of the right circle for his second goal of the game.

``He got behind me,'' Richards said. ``Little plays like that can't happen. We got our first point in a while, but we didn't win.''

Before Florida's Marcus Nilson scored late in regulation, it appeared the Lightning would end an 11-game winless stretch at Florida, dating back to April 10, 1996.

Although Tampa Bay gained a point after eight consecutive losses, the decision was another devastating blow in a lost season.

``We took a step, we got to OT and we got a point.'' said Coach John Tortorella. ``We continued to give ourselves chances to win and now we need to take another step.''

Goals by All-Star Fredrik Modin and Brian Holzinger gave the Lightning an opportunity to finally win a close game after a series of heartbreaking setbacks.

Florida came at Kevin Weekes hard in the third period and Nilson scored from just off the left post, converting a deft feed by Bret Hedican before defenseman Pavel Kubina could close the gap.

The Panthers out-shot the Lightning 28-21 in regulation and added two shots in the extra session.

The Lightning tightened their defense considerably in the second period, holding the Panthers without a shot for the first 10 minutes. Tampa Bay defenseman Paul Mara rang a shot off the far post from the left point with eight minutes left and Holzinger put the Lightning ahead 2-1 with 1:47 remaining, deflecting Craig Millar's shot past Trevor Kidd.

Modin opened the scoring 8:11 into the game off a nice set-up by Martin St. Louis, ripping a slap shot off Kidd's glove from the top of the right circle.

Bure, continuing his two-year assault on the Lightning defense, tied the score three minutes later with his 27th goal. Bure, who has nine goals and seven assists in the last eight games against Tampa Bay, was inexplicably left unguarded at the bottom of the right circle.

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Lightning's slide reaches nine
A late lead at Florida turns into a 3-2 loss on Bure's goal :59 into OT
by Damian Cristodero - - St. Petersburg Times
January 28, 2001

SUNRISE -- Goaltender Kevin Weekes took one look at Saturday night's stat sheet and flicked it angrily to the floor of the Lightning locker room.

It wasn't that Tampa Bay had lost 3-2 in overtime to the Panthers in front of 14,612 at National Car Rental Center, though with losses in nine consecutive and 13 of 14 games, any defeat is bad.

What irked Weekes was that the Lightning allowed Pavel Bure's winning goal 59 seconds into the extra period, his second of the game and 28th of the season, by blowing a coverage the team worked on in practice the day before.

"Just deny the net," he said. "It's something we worked on (Friday), so there's no excuse why it's not fresh in our minds today."

The Lightning got a point for the regulation tie. That is a step when you consider the last points Tampa Bay got were for a Jan. 10 victory over the Maple Leafs. It also nudged one point ahead of the Islanders in the race to avoid the NHL's worst record.

But it lost forward Alexander Kharitonov, who left in the second period with a bruised knee. And the game showcased the problems coach John Tortorella has been trying constantly to correct.

Tampa Bay again allowed a team to get the best of it in the third period, and has been outscored 17-3 in that period during its past eight games.

And it failed to cover Bure.

The right wing has 15 goals, 12 assists in 15 games against Tampa Bay and scored the winner by tipping a cross-pass from Robert Svehla.

Lightning center Brad Richards took the blame.

"I lost him," the rookie said. "It's pretty simple. He got away. I played high and didn't follow him down to the net. "A little mental breakdown," Richards said, "and we don't get the game."

The game was a tour de force for Bure, who played 27:16 on 28 shifts and took a game-high six shots. This after playing 27:28 Friday and getting a goal and two assists in a 5-4 overtime loss to the Senators.

Panthers coach Duane Sutter even started Bure on defense in the overtime to cause problems for Tampa Bay's coverages.

"I didn't know how much he'd have left in his tank," Sutter said, "but I think he got better as the game went on."

On the plus side for Tampa Bay, it played with considerable energy. And Tortorella said the point is a step in the right direction.

"I'm not overly disappointed," he said. "We took a step, got to overtime, got a point."

"But it's still a loss," defenseman Jassen Cullimore said. "It seems right now we have to put together a perfect game to get a win."

Fredrik Modin scored his 22nd goal to give Tampa Bay a 1-0 first-period lead. And Brian Holzinger tipped in Craig Millar's shot with 1:47 left in the second to put the Lightning ahead 2-1.

But Marcus Nilson tied the score at 2 with 5:13 left. Nilson was left unattended to Weekes' right when he converted a pass from Bret Hedican, but Tortorella said the coverage was there.

"It was a funny goal because (the puck) went through three people," he said.

Nothing funny about it, said Holzinger, who lamented that Tampa Bay couldn't close the deal.

"We just have to find some way," he said. "I don't know if we're afraid of losing and afraid to take the bull by the horns and get the win. And that is not a good sign."

Weekes, who made 27 saves as the Lightning was outshot 30-21, put an exclamation on that with his toss of the stat sheet.

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Post Game Summary - Florida vs Tampa Bay
- - FloridaPanthers.com
January 27, 2001

The Panthers played their second overtime game in as many nights but this evening's result favored the Cats as they walked away with the extra point after defeating the Lightning 3-2.

The teams traded first period goals with the Lightning striking first at 8:11. Martin St. Louis stripped the puck from a Panther at the blue line and fed Fredrik Modin who let go from the top of the right face-off circle beating Trevor Kidd. The Panthers picked it up toward the midway point of the period and with just over eight minutes remaining, Kevin Weekes made two huge saves (on Marcus Nilson and Viktor Kozlov) in tight quarters. Seconds later, with Kozlov cycling again, Weekes' luck wore off... Viktor worked the puck behind the net and fed Pavel Bure at the edge of the crease. Bure got a shot away as he fell to the ice and it blew by the Tampa netminder.

There wasn't anything especially pretty about the second period as neither team could get any flow going. There was a lot of coast-to-coast action but not much to show for it due to turnovers and missed shots. With 7:45 remaining in the second, Paul Mara rang a shot off the post after beating Kidd from the left side... Play went back the other way and Kevin Weekes had to be sharp with Olli Jokinen breaking in shorthanded... At 18:13 of the period, Tampa connected on the go-ahead goal as Craig Millar's shot from the point deflected off Brian Holzinger in front of the net. The puck changed direction leaving Trevor Kidd no chance on the play. The Panthers came close to tying the score again with just over a minute remaining but Rob Niedermayer's solid effort driving to the net failed to count, as the puck did not cross the goal line...

It looked as though the Panthers might suffer the same fate as last night when early in the third period, Viktor Kozlov rang a shot off the goal post. The Panthers fought through the missed chances and finally, at 14:47 of the period, Marcus Nilson cashed in when Bret Hedican found him at the side of the net. Weekes looked to be expecting the shot from Hedican and could not get across the crease in time. The Panthers pressured late in the period but Kevin Weekes was solid sending the teams to overtime for the second game in a row.

The Panthers made no secret of the fact they were playing for the win tonight and had Tampa on their heels early in the extra period. At 0:59 of the OT stanza, Robert Svehla's cross-ice pass found Pavel Bure and his tip-in went right by Weekes for the Panthers' victory...

The three stars of the game as voted by Mike Russo were: Marcus Nilson (3rd star), Brian Holzinger (2nd star) and Pavel Bure (1st star).

These two teams will finish the home and home series on Tuesday at the Ice Palace... Game time is 7:30 pm.

******

Coach's Comments

On winning against Tampa Bay and the recent play of the Panthers:
"I don't care who it's against now as long as it's a win. As I've said several times, you can see improvement. Throw out the Chicago game and we've played some pretty good hockey recently."

On the play of Viktor Kozlov, who is riding a five-game points streak (3-3-6):
"Well he's played hard both ways, he's strong on the puck and he's shooting the puck. When he's shooting the puck, the 'D' back off him through the neutral zone and on entries, and it opens up space, not only for himself, but for Pavel. And, as you've seen on the tying goal, for Marcus as well. That's (Viktor's return to health from his shoulder injury) certainly a part of it. I think when Igor(Larionov) came in early in the year, that it kind of set Kozzie back half a step. Maybe he didn't think there was going to be as big of a responsibility going his way. But obviously, if the Larionov trade had something to do with it, certainly it's helping. But I think he's healthy and he's shooting the puck."

On the play of Robert Svehla:
"Robert's been solid ever since I took over. I think Robert has been outstanding. He's playing a lot along with his partner. You can't say enough about him. He's regained his All-Star form. He's been physical. I think it certainly helps to have a kid (Lance Ward) playing with a lot of energy next to him. Between the two of them, I'd like to total up the hits that they've had the last eight games."

On needing offense and putting Bure on defense in overtime:
"We've got nothing to lose now, we need all the points we can get. That's why I started Pavel on defense for the first 40 seconds or so (in the overtime). And anytime the defense can be activated to join the game, whether it be five-on-five or four-on-four, it's certainly going to cause problems."

On Pavel Bure's play, particularly in crucial situations, such as the overtime:
"He played 30 minutes last night so I didn't know how much he'd have left in his tank, but I think he got better as the game went on. Certainly in overtime it's a gamble, playing three forwards. But when you've got a guy with speed like that... At the start of the overtime to the four guys that are going to go on the ice. As long as everybody's aware of it and somebody's ready to recover, we've got some pretty good speed out there so somebody should be able to bounce back for us. That's why Hedican was the lone defenseman (in overtime)."

On the play of the Panthers defensemen:
"We moved the puck pretty well throughout the night and obviously a lot of offense is generated from the blue line. As I said a few games ago, I'd like to see more shots coming from the point and hopefully something will be created from that - rebounds, deflections. Even if the guy joins, like Bobby joined in overtime, it certainly creates some havoc for the defensive zone coverage."

On Marcus Nilson's work being rewarded with a goal and his play overall:
"It's a well-deserved reward for Marcus. He's been excellent, I believe, for 15 games now. I think out of the 15 games he's been probably below average one night, maybe two nights at the most. For a kid that age to be able to add something to the Kozlov-Bure line, especially down low cycling, it makes a big impact. The goal as I said is really just a nice reward for him."

On the decision to start Trevor Kidd in goal on back-to-back nights:
"Everyone remembers his save with four seconds left in the third period last night, he basically got us a point with that save. He hasn't had a lot of starts recently, so I didn't think it should be a factor as far as him being tired is concerned, so it's a decision we made after the game. Sometimes when you make those decisions it's an emotional decision and it doesn't always pay off for you. I'm glad that we did make the call."

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Florida 3, Tampa Bay 2 (ot)
- - Yahoo.com
January 27, 2001

SUNRISE, FLORIDA -- As Pavel Bure goes, so do the Florida Panthers.

Bure scored his second goal of the game 59 seconds into overtime as the Florida Panthers handed the Tampa Bay Lightning their ninth straight loss, 3-2.

"The Russian Rocket" opened the scoring midway through the first period and was denied a second goal several times throughout the game before finally breaking through in the extra session. While cutting down the edge of the slot, Bure redirected a pass from defenseman Robert Svehla past goaltender Kevin Weekes for the game-winner.

"I just try to kind of hide and then find the open spot," Bure said. "Niedermayer made a good play and made a nice pass to Bobby (Svehla), who saw me at the post. It was almost an empty net."

Bure has five goals in his last five games and his team-leading 28 tallies account for 25 percent of Florida's offense this season. He also has nine goals in his last eight games against Tampa Bay.

"He played 30 minutes last night so I didn't know how much left he'd have in his tank," Panthers coach Duane Sutter said. "But I think he got better as the game went on. In overtime, (Bure playing defense is a) gamble, but you've got a guy with speed like that."

Florida got the tying goal from Marcus Nilson late in regulation. With 5:13 left, Nilson reached ahead to gather a cross-ice pass from defenseman Bret Hedican at the left side of the crease before depositing the puck past a diving Weekes.

"I finally got a goal," Nilson said of his first tally since December 29. "I thought Hedican was going to put the puck on the net. Their `D' man didn't pick up on it. I was going for the rebound. I just had an open net."

Tampa Bay has allowed 17 third-period goals over the last eight games.

The Panthers are 10-0-2 in their last 12 home games against the Lightning dating to a 2-1 loss on April 10, 1996. They hold a 14-2-3 edge in their building during the all-time series.

"I don't care who it's against now, as long as it's a win," Panthers coach Duane Sutter said. "Throw out the Chicago game and we've played some pretty good hockey recently."

Florida moved three points ahead of Tampa Bay in the battle to avoid the Southeast Division cellar.

Tampa Bay is 1-10-0-1 since John Tortorella took over as coach from Steve Ludzik on January 4. The losing streak is the longest for the Lightning since a nine-game drought from November 10-December 3, 1998.

"I'm not overly disappointed," Tortorella said. "We took a step, got to overtime and got a point. Now we need to make another step. We just got to learn how to win."

Tampa Bay scored first when Fredrik Modin notched his team-leading 22nd goal at 8:11 of the first period. But Bure got the equalizer just over three minutes later when he converted a cross-ice feed from Viktor Kozlov at the right side of the crease.

Brian Holzinger put Tampa Bay back on top late in the second period by deflecting a shot by defenseman Craig Millar past goaltender Trevor Kidd.

Kidd made 19 saves and snapped a personal five-game winless skid (0-4-1). It was his first win since defeating Los Angeles on January 4.

Pavel finished with a plus two for his two goals and six shots on goal.

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Brotherly love: Bures hope to play on same team
by Rob Miech - - CBS SportsLine
January 26, 2001

LOS ANGELES -- The Brothers Bure debuted together on a frozen lake in Moscow about 20 years ago, when the dynamic duo sometimes skipped school and skated all day, dreaming of hockey fame.

Tatiana Bure alleviated her boys' physical hunger, at least, when they returned home.

"There were always a lot of kids coming out to the pond," said Valeri Bure, a wing for the Calgary Flames. "We'd put the shoes on -- not skates or anything -- grab an old stick and play for hours. It was just the best. We'd come home with such awesome appetites. And your mom's cooking ... nothing beats that.

"Every time mom comes and visits, she cooks like crazy. I just keep giving her orders. And she loves it, too."

Pavel Bure still has three years left on a $48 million contract with the Panthers. (Allsport)

Her sons, Pavel and Valeri, have filled their professional appetites, too. Last season, the Bures set a record for the most goals by a brother combination, eclipsing Bobby and Dennis Hull's mark of 89 by four, and they overpowered the North Americans in the All-Star Game in Toronto.

World coach Scotty Bowman was eager to see the brothers share the same line for the first time since their days on the famed Red Army team in Russia, and Pavel delivered a hat-trick of an MVP performance in a 9-4 victory.

Valeri set up his older brother for his first two goals. Valeri also passed up a golden scoring opportunity of his own when he zipped the puck back to Pavel, a wing for the Florida Panthers, who erred on an attempt at a fourth goal.

"We thought they would have a chemistry together," Bowman said. "And we were right."

The Bures never doubt themselves when they're on the same line, and Valeri is certain that that will happen on a full-time basis again on an NHL team.

"I'm going to love it," Valeri said. "Hopefully, we can be on the same team one day. I don't know if it's going to be sooner or a little late, when we're unrestricted free agents. We'll play hard, not only for our team but for each other. That will help the team, as well. And we'll have a lot of fun out there."

Pavel Bure will never forget the priceless All-Star time he spent alongside his brother on Feb. 6, 2000. "One of the most special days of my career," Pavel said. It shouldn't be the last, either.

For the benefit of everyone involved, the two ailing franchises should consummate a deal by the March 13 trading deadline to begin a new and exciting chapter of The Brothers Bure in South Florida.

Flames general manager Craig Button has admitted that he has talked with Panthers general manager Bryan Murray about trading Valeri to Florida, and Calgary officials like center Rob Niedermayer, enforcer Peter Worrell and promising goalie Robert Luongo.

The Pocket Rocket, with professional deference to Henri Richard, might have hurt his market value with his rough first three months. Button has said Valeri "is a big factor" when he's hot, but is it too late for Calgary (45 points) to catch Edmonton (54) in the playoff race?

Valeri is a restricted free agent at the end of this season, so a team that signs him would pay a hefty draft-pick price to the Flames under the NHL's strict indemnity rules.

Pavel, the Russian Rocket, has three years left on a $48 million contract he signed in Florida after forcing a trade from Vancouver two years ago.

"You can hope, you can wish and you can go ask," Valeri said. "It doesn't help. If it happens, it happens. If it doesn't, I guess we'll have to wait until we're both unrestricted free agents."

Pavel is 29, has followed a 58-goal campaign by finding the net 25 times this season to place himself among the league's top dozen snipers and is single, having had a less-than-private friendship with Russian tennis star Anna Kournikova.

Valeri, 26, is the family man, with a wife, two young daughters and a home base in Malibu, Calif., across from Zuma Beach. Unlike his older bro, though, he has not duplicated his success (35 goals) of last season.

Coach Bruce Sutter got the ax in the Flames' offseason house-cleaning, and Valeri was slow to adjust to new boss Don Hay's blue-collar and defensive-minded ways.

But Valeri slipped into a valley before Hay arrived. A month after the stellar All-Star performance with his brother, Valeri popped in an even-strength goal in a romp over Pittsburgh. He didn't get his next one until Dec. 14 at Ottawa.

His 13 goals are well off last season's pace.

"The biggest challenge is, everyone looks at you differently," Valeri said. "They know I can score. I've scored in the past, and I'm still scoring. It's just, you get special attention. The bottom line is, you want to repeat what you did last year. That's been challenging."

The true test came early last month, when Hay made Bure a healthy scratch in back-to-back games against Nashville and Carolina. Bure watched both from the Saddledome press box -- then he scored in Calgary's next three games.

"Val has a lot of pride, and I think he was frustrated early on in the year," said Calgary left wing and captain Dave Lowry. "He was getting his shots, but they weren't going into the net. What he did, he bit the bullet for a while."

That's also when Valeri dumped agent Serge Levin, a move Pavel executed in September 1997, in favor of Kingston, Ontario-based Mike Gillis, who represents Pavel. Gillis was unavailable for comment about Valeri's future.

Dostoevsky might have found these two Russian brothers more interesting to chronicle than the four Karamazovs, who reportedly didn't skate too well or have someone as magnetic as Kournikova just a cell-phone ring away.

Including those two games Bure missed and Thursday night's 3-0 victory over the Los Angeles Kings at Staples Center, the Flames are on an 11-5-3 run.

"Bottom line," he said, "I've just been playing my game."

Valeri Bure thrives on retrieving pucks deep in the back of Calgary's zone, using the width of the ice to build up steam and momentum, and bullet past opponents' forwards and defensemen.

Playing close to the vest, with opposing players smelling his breath, cuts down on passes accurately reaching Valeri and his ability to make a move or leave a foe in his jets.

"He's one of our pure goal-scorers," Lowry said. "He gives this team a big lift when he scores. But even if he's not scoring, he's creating opportunities when he gets the puck. You try to take advantage when you get an opportunity to play with him."

Pavel knows that better than anyone. The Bures helped Team Russia win Olympic silver in Nagano in 1998, when they were roommates. That experience with his brother will be in Valeri's memory bank, he said, for a long time.

Soon enough, Valeri hopes to again wear the same jersey as Pavel, sharing the same line and having the same success as they have already had in their lives.

It will be like the old days, except the Miami sand, maybe, will replace the Moscow ice. And nothing would be better than to find Mom in the kitchen after some games.

"It's awesome," Valeri said of the prospects of an NHL team sporting a double-barrel Bure attack. "I love it. I think we get along so well, not only on the ice but off. Once you get on the ice, it's pure fun and enjoyment. For me, it's pretty easy to find him. Once I put the puck on his stick, he doesn't miss that many chances."

Nor should the Florida Panthers.

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Post Game Summary - Florida vs Ottawa
- - FloridaPanthers.com
January 26, 2001

After jumping out to a three-goal lead, the Panthers fell to the Ottawa Senators 5-4 in overtime...

The Panthers played an outstanding first period tonight and after twenty minutes, they carried a 1-0 lead into the locker room... Early in the period, Trevor Kidd made a diving save on Martin Havlat in close quarters. Play turned around and sent Vinny Prospal driving in on Patrick Lalime who returned the favor with a beautiful save. The Panthers' goal came at 13:45 on the power play when Viktor Kozlov found Pavel Bure camped at the side of the net. His cross-ice pass went tape-to-tape through three Ottawa players. It was a beauty but not the best Bure play of the period... His crushing hit on Karel Rachunek along the boards was huge!

In the second, the teams netted two goals apiece with the Cats getting the first couple and the Sens the last two... Florida's first was another great play by Viktor Kozlov as he stick-handled through the Ottawa zone and lifted the puck into the top right corner of the twines. Vinny Prospal netted his first goal against his former team at 5:00 from a "mile" out. Yan Golubovsky got the lone assist on the goal. Viktor Kozlov had two more amazing opportunities in the period but rang the shot off the goal post each time. Ottawa got on the board at 9:03 after the Panthers found themselves down by two men. The goal came on the first shot of the 5-on-3 when Wade Redden's shot from the blueline deflected off Marian Hossa in the slot. Radek Bonk was credited with the last goal of the period from the left side of the net. He went around Kidd and tucked the puck into the far corner just barely across the line. The goal was reviewed but the score stood.

The third period began with Ottawa taking the play to the Panthers and they turned that edge into a two-goal effort... The first came on the power play with Chris Phillips cruising in from the point to grab a rebound and sailed it by Trevor Kidd. Alexei Yashin's goal at 11:08 gave the Senators their first lead of the night after Shawn McEachern cycled in front of the Panthers net and threw a pass back to Yashin driving into the left face-off circle. The Panthers drew even at 12:39 on the power play with a blast from the point by Dan Boyle - his first of the season. With just three seconds left in regulation, Trevor Kidd made the save of the game to send the teams to overtime. It was a sprawling glove save on Alfredsson from the top of the crease...

Neither team seemed content to accept a tie and the overtime stanza got out to a frenzied pace... With half of the overtime period remaining, the Senators rallied for the game-winner after Lance Ward turned the puck over in the neutral zone. Marian Hossa grabbed the puck and broke in on Trevor Kidd... Game over!

The three stars of the game as voted by David J. Neal were: Pavel Bure (3rd star), Viktor Kozlov (2nd star) and Marian Hossa (1st star).

The Panthers will see action again tomorrow night as the Tampa Bay Lightning come to town. Game time is 7:30 pm... Tomorrow's practice (10:30 am @ NCRC) is optional but is open for anyone who wants to come out and watch.

*****

Coach's Comments

On the difference in the game:
“Two goal posts. It’s 4-0 or 4-1.”

On the turnover off Lance Ward’s stick that led to Hossa’s breakaway game winner:
“It’s unfortunate that one of the defensemen that’s been one of our top two ‘D’ probably for the last eight or nine games is put in the spotlight like that. It looked like - when I look back at the play - (if) it goes off the wall, we’re OK. But on the other hand, his partner was way up ice and then went for a bad change. He did look cross-ice first to his partner, nobody was there.”

On who Ward’s defense partner was prior to the goal:
“It’s not Robert Svehla. Go look at it. It wasn’t Robert Svehla. Everyone’s all anxious to jump on Robert Svehla’s case. Robert’s been our best defenseman.”

On the eight Ottawa power plays affecting the game:
“I have no comment about the refereeing or the penalties, because I want to look at a few of them. I believe there’s a couple very, very suspect calls.”

On the closed-door meeting after the game:
“What goes on behind closed doors stays there.”

On whether or not continued poor results will overcome the positive play built by the Panthers:
“It’s possible but right now we’ve got to pull everything out of the closet that we can and hopefully the guys continue to believe and trust each other even more so than they are now. When the momentum shifts like that, obviously trust starts to slide a little bit. One thing I did say in there is that trust is so important. If you’re in war and you’re in a foxhole, you’d better trust your buddy behind is not going to let you get shot in the back and he’s believing the same thing. Out there on the ice we have the same attitude, the same approach.”

On the calls against Peter Worrell:
“I know the forechecking one - I want to watch it again - but I think it was a very questionable call. The one he took at center ice was a late hit and that’s why he never played another shift. He’s not the first guy I’ve done that to. I’ve done it to Robert in the past, I’ve done it to Scott Mellanby in the past and Peter. We’ve talked about discipline time and time again. I know Peter is under a magnifying glass out there all the time because of his size and the way he plays. It's unfortunate, but that's the way it is. He’s got to be a little more careful.”

On whether he was happy with Peter’s play:
“Not when he takes a penalty like that. That’s why I benched him. But, overall the kid has made a tremendous improvement.”

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Ottawa 5, Florida 4 (ot)
- - Yahoo.com
January 26, 2001

SUNRISE, FLORIDA -- Marian Hossa scored on a breakaway with 2:06 left in overtime as the Ottawa Senators rallied from a three-goal deficit to defeat the Florida Panthers, 5-4, and match a franchise record with their fifth straight victory.

Hossa, who began Ottawa's comeback from a 3-0 deficit in the second period, intercepted rookie defenseman Lance Ward's pass in the neutral zone and broke in alone on Trevor Kidd.

Hossa deked Kidd out of position, went to his forehand and flipped the puck over the fallen goaltender for his fifth goal in three games against the Panthers this season.

The Senators have had three previous five-game winning streaks, most recently from January 2-13.

Florida defenseman Dan Boyle scored his first goal of the season on the power play to tie it with 7:21 left in regulation. It was his fourth goal in 74 NHL games and first since March 26, 1999 against the Washington Capitals.

Alexei Yashin capped Ottawa's run of four straight goals, scoring his 200th NHL tally and 22nd of the season to give the Senators a 4-3 lead with 8:52 to go in the third.

Ottawa had an excellent chance to win, but Kidd made a spectacular glove save on Daniel Alfredsson's blast from the slot with three seconds left.

Pavel Bure scored in the first period before Viktor Kozlov and Vaclav Prospal added goals in the second to give the Panthers a 3-0 cushion.

Hossa and fellow All-Star Radek Bonk tallied late in the second to bring the Senators within a goal before Chris Phillips tied it 6:36 into the third.

Pavel was a minus one for his goal and two assists, registering 3 shots on goal.

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Post Game Summary - Florida vs Washington
- - FloridaPanthers.com
January 24, 2001

The Washington Capitals recorded their sixth straight win over the visiting Florida Panthers tonight by a final score of 2-1...

It didn't take long for the Caps to get on the board in this one, as they posted the first goal of the game on the power play at 0:59. After drawing a few Panther players down low, Adam Oates sent the puck cross-ice to a waiting Peter Bondra. Bondra was just inside the top of the right face-off circle and blew it by Roberto Luongo five-hole. The Cats would regroup through the period, but just couldn't get anything in the back of the net...

The second period saw the Panthers knot the score at one off some good old-fashioned team play. Between the pipes, Roberto Luongo was solid making a sliding save with Bondra racing in on a near breakaway from the red line. Just seconds later, at 9:48, Mike Sillinger netted the equalizer driving into the high slot. As in the Boston game, Viktor Kozlov used his size and strength to make the play happen sending the puck toward the net with a couple defenders all over him. The Cats succumbed to the penalty bug this period spending most of the last seven minutes a man down. Not only did they kill off each call, but they actually had some fabulous chances shorthanded. Marcus Nilson was superb getting no less than three chances on his own

The Panthers played well through the third period but it was the Capitals who would get the go ahead goal at 8:14. Once again, it was Peter Bondra, getting his second of the game from the top of the crease on a spin-around move with Anders Eriksson pressuring. The pass to Bondra came from Nikolishin along the right boards. Roberto Luongo was outstanding through the period and with 6:00 minutes left, he made a couple huge saves on Simon and Bulis after a turnover by Dan Boyle in the Florida end. The Cats came close in the final minute of play but Olaf Kolzig was spectacular shutting them down from every angle.

On the stat sheet, Florida stacked up well in this game... They outshot Washington 32 to 25, won 57% of face-offs, out-hit them 23 to 18 and had 13 blocked shots to the Caps' 11.

The three stars of the game were: Brendan Witt (3rd star), Olaf Kolzig (2nd star) and Peter Bondra (1st star).

The Panthers will head home tonight for a pair at National Car Rental Center this weekend (against Ottawa and Tampa). Tomorrow's practice will take place at Incredible Ice at noon...

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Philadelphia 5, Florida 3
- - Yahoo.com
January 24, 2001

WASHINGTON -- Red-hot Peter Bondra scored twice and Olaf Kolzig stopped 31 shots, leading the Washington Capitals to a 2-1 victory over the Florida Panthers.

Bondra got the Capitals on the board with a power-play goal just 59 seconds into the game, then added his 26th of the season to snap a tie 8:14 into the third period. He has scored the game-winner in each of Washington's last three victories and has 14 goals in his last 16 contests.

The Capitals have won the last six meetings with Florida, dating to last season.

Kolzig lost his shutout bid when Mike Sillinger tied it for the Panthers 9:48 into the second period.

Coming off Tuesday's 3-2 victory at Boston, Florida was trying to string together consecutive wins for only the second time this season. The Panthers won two in a row on November 15-17 against Carolina and Columbus.

Roberto Luongo turned aside 23 shots for Florida, which became the last NHL team to reach 10 wins with Tuesday's victory. Luongo continues to be victimized by poor support, allowing just 31 goals in his last 20 starts. He fell to 4-16-2 this season.

Pavel took a two minute hooking penalty in the second period, and was even in the plus minus column for his six shots on goal.

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Bure put on trading block
by Matt McHale - - Los Angeles Daily News
January 23, 2001

PHILADELPHIA -- Although they lost to the lowly Florida Panthers two weeks ago, many of the Los Angeles Kings were appalled with the lethargic effort of the Panthers' top player, Pavel Bure.

Florida has only nine victories, but Bure is in the news because the National Hockey League trade deadline is six weeks away and one of the league's premier goal scorers figures to draw much interest.

But should he? Bure's ability is well known: 58 goals last season and back-to-back 60-goal seasons with Vancouver in the early 1990s. The coming all-star game in Denver will showcase a reunion of former Soviet linemates Bure, Sergei Fedorov and Alexander Mogilny.

If that doesn't scare the North American team, consider something else. Bure and the $30-million left on the final three years of his contract are being shopped around.

Publicly, the Panthers aren't ready to concede their season, even though new coach Duane Sutter hasn't made a dent in the league's worst record. They say Bure is part of their future.

Privately, they are eager to dump Bure, his bad contract and worse attitude. It is going to be a while before the Panthers can turn this around and they want to get younger and cheaper in the meantime. But there are 29 other teams that feel the same way. There are two other $10-million players in the league, Colorado's Peter Forsberg and Anaheim's Paul Kariya.

Although the Avalanche have the league's best record, the team also has one of the largest payrolls and a history of financial problems. Even if they win the Stanley Cup this year, the Avs have hard financial decisions to make.

Joe Sakic, the league's leading scorer, and Patrick Roy, the NHL's career in goaltender victories, are unrestricted free agents. Both make about $8-million a year. Sakic is expected to be re-signed for a raise, but Roy's negotiations look to be tougher.

The Panthers are hoping the New York Islanders, who have new ownership, will not only bite on Bure and his big contract but give up some of their top young talent. The Islanders, who will miss the playoffs for the seventh consecutive season, have stockpiled kids the past few seasons and could be a factor in two or three years if they can add a new building.

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Kozlov bails out Panthers
by David J. Neal - - Miami Herald
January 23, 2001

BOSTON -- One of the big differences between this season's Panthers and last season's is resiliency. This season, the Panthers have been as resilient as a pane of glass, and adversity has shattered that pane like a Bob Gibson fastball.

There was no reason to expect anything different Monday when the Panthers blew a two-goal, third-period lead to the Bruins at FleetCenter. But the Panthers needed just 43 seconds to produce the unexpected -- resiliency -- in the form of Viktor Kozlov's goal with 1:39 remaining. The 10-footer from the slot lifted Florida to a 3-2 victory, its 10th of the season.

Kozlov erased the possibility of another disheartening ending for Florida. Friday, the Panthers lost at least one point for a regulation tie when Buffalo scored with 7.9 seconds left. Then, on Saturday, they took a 2-1 lead into the third period before losing at Philadelphia.

``There's no way we deserve only two points out of the last three games,'' Panthers coach Duane Sutter said.

Against the Bruins, Florida built a 2-0 lead on second-period goals by newly acquired center Vaclav Prospal and center Rob Niedermayer. Right wing Pavel Bure assisted on both.

But another collapse seemed imminent when Boston's Don Sweeney and Brian Rolston scored late in the third period.

On the shift after Rolston's tying goal with 2:22 remaining, Panthers left wing Marcus Nilson circled the net with Sweeney trailing. Nilson put the puck to the slot, where the 6-5 Kozlov was posting up P.J. Axelsson, generously listed at 6-1. Kozlov reached over Axelsson and fluttered a shot inside the right post past goalie Byron Dafoe.

``It was a good play by the partners to get the puck to me,'' Kozlov said. ``I just tried to get the shot to the net. I got a lucky bounce, and the puck went in.''

Said Sutter: ``Kozlov, Bure and Nilson were good all night. Kozzie makes a great second effort, maybe even third effort. Marcus makes a heck of a play coming off the wall. And everyone says Pav never plays in traffic. Well, he started the play by playing in traffic along the boards and battling to get Nilson the puck.''

Kozlov's game-winner took Florida defenseman Lance Pitlick off the hook. Forty-three seconds earlier, Rolston got the puck at the Florida line and had a clear path to the net after Pitlick wiped out in frantic retreat. Rolston scored on his own rebound.

It took Boston coming at the Panthers in waves for the first 11:26 of the third to get a puck past goalie Roberto Luongo, who stopped 33 of 35 shots. Sweeney, the trailer on a rush, sent a left-circle wrister over Luongo's glove with 8:34 remaining.

Luongo had lost his last two starts by shutouts, and the Panthers scored just three goals in his previous three starts before Monday.

``He has been great -- too bad he didn't have a shutout,'' Bure said. ``I think he deserved a shutout tonight.''

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All-Star starting lineup Flash Hockey Cards
January 22, 2001

Check out NHL.com's exclusive All-Star starting lineup Flash Hockey Cards. The 51st NHL All-Star Game, presented by Nortel Networks will be played in Denver Sunday, Feb. 4, when the top players representing the United States and Canada will face the NHL's best from the rest of the world.

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Post Game Summary - Florida vs Boston
- - FloridaPanthers.com
January 22, 2001

The Panthers won their first game of this road trip, and their second straight over Boston, this evening by a final of 3-2...

Despite coming out with an inspired effort in the first period, the teams left the ice after 20 minutes with a 0-0 tie. The Bruins led on the shot clock 10-9 but the Panthers clearly took the play to the home team getting some fabulous efforts on which to build... In the opening period, both Scott Mellanby and Mike Sillinger had half of a net to shot at with Dafoe out of position. Mellanby went wide left and Sillinger sailed it over the top of the net.

The Cats carried their enthusiastic play into the second period, but this time the end result was much different, as they doubled up on the Bruins 2-0... Vaclav Prospal netted his first as a Panther and the first of the game at 1:22 on the power play. Prospal drove to the net to grab a huge rebound from Pavel Bure's shot and never took his eyes off the target. Minutes later, with the Bruins on the power play, Billy Guerin rang a shot off the left post and the Cats breathed a sigh of relief. Rob Niedermayer connected for his seventh goal of the season at 8:36. Bure led the rush on a near breakaway but sent a drop pass back to Rob when he couldn't get a shot away. Niedermayer put the puck on net from his backhand going around Dafoe on the right side.

The final period was a nailbiter as the Panthers struggled to regain control... The Bruins came out with a renewed focus and carried the play for most of the period. Roberto Luongo deserves some major kudos tonight for keeping the Cats in the game. The Bruins netted their first of the night at 11:26 off a neutral zone turnover. Don Sweeney got a shot away from the left face-off dot and it got past Luongo under the leg pad. Six minutes later, the Bruins came again to tie the game at two. With Rolston carrying into the Florida zone, Lance Pitlick fell giving up the coverage and allowing Rolston to drive the net unhampered and then slap in his own rebound. The Panthers showed easily their best character of the season when less than a minute later, they got back on top 3-2... Marcus Nilson got the play started digging the puck out of the corner. He carried behind the net and threw the puck out to the high slot. Viktor Kozlov was there, but with PJ Axelsson all over him, it looked as though the play would be lost. Viktor fought back and got a shot away beating Dafoe.

The three stars of tonight's game were: Brian Rolston (3rd star), Don Sweeney (2nd star) and Roberto Luongo (1st star).

The Panthers move on to Washington for the final game of this trip on Wednesday... Face-off is 7:00 pm.

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Florida 3, Boston 2
- - Yahoo.com
January 20, 2001

BOSTON -- With his offensively challenged team, rookie Roberto Luongo of the Florida Panthers probably thought he could not get a win if he allowed a goal.

Luongo made 33 saves and Viktor Kozlov scored with 99 seconds remaining to lift the Panthers to a 3-2 victory over the Boston Bruins.

With the score tied, 2-2, Marcus Nilson skated through the right faceoff circle and behind the Boston net before sending a pass to the slot. With Bruins left wing P.J. Axelsson draped on his back, Kozlov muscled a wrist shot between goaltender Byron Dafoe's pads for his fifth goal of the season.

"I think our line played very well all game," Kozlov said. "Nilson did a great job of getting me that puck off the boards. I was able to fight off their guy and get a shot away less than a minute after they tied the game. For us to finally win a game like that feels great."

Luongo faced heavy pressure in the final minute but held on for his fourth win of the season (4-15-2) and first that was not a shutout. With 36 seconds remaining, Boston's Brian Rolston took a pass from Bill Guerin, but his one-timer from the slot sailed just wide of the left goalpost. Guerin had a chance in the closing seconds but could not control the puck just outside the crease.

"I feel very happy for Roberto," said Florida coach Duane Sutter. "He's played so hard for us. We haven't been getting a lot of goals for him. Tonight we got three and that was enough. That was great resiliency we showed. We showed great resiliency tonight after they made it 2-2. We didn't roll over, we got the job done."

Florida ended a three-game losing streak and improved to just 2-24-7-6 when allowing more than one goal. The Panthers (10-25-8-6) defeated the Bruins for the second time in three meetings this season and became the last team in the NHL to reach 10 wins.v Pavel Bure assisted on each tally for the Panthers, who improved to 3-12 in one-goal games, a figure that includes seven overtime losses.

"I think this game was a long time coming for us," Bure said. "You could see it, the way we have been playing lately. We've been playing harder and better. Tonight we just got some breaks late."

Boston has lost three straight following a season-high four-game winning streak. The Bruins tied it at 2-2 on Rolston's eighth goal with 2:22 left in the third period. Rolston blew past defenseman Lance Pitlick in the right circle and skated toward the slot, where he took a wrist shot that Luongo blocked. But the puck came right back to Rolston and he flipped a wrist shot between Luongo's pads.

"I'm at a loss for words. I can't tell you what the (heck) is going on," Boston coach Mike Keenan said. "There's really not much to answer tonight, why don't you ask the players? You'll have to ask them if they're tired. I have my own opinion. I don't think it matters at this point. This is the most exasperated I've felt with this group."

The Bruins outshot the Panthers, 15-6, in the third period but were scoreless in four power-play chances, extending their drought to 0-for-15.

The Panthers were 1-for-4 with the man advantage as newcomer Vaclav Prospal tallied for a 1-0 lead 82 seconds into the second period. Acquired from Ottawa on Sunday, Prospal buried a rebound of Bure's shot for his second goal of the season and first since December 16.

Rob Niedermayer beat Dafoe with a backhander from the slot for his seventh goal and a 2-0 lead at 8:36 of the second.

The Bruins ended a goalless drought of 126 minutes, 18 seconds when defenseman Don Sweeney got his second goal of the season with 8:34 left in regulation. He took a pass from Rolston and lifted a wrister over Luongo's glove from the left point.

Pavel was credited with 3 shots on goal, and was a plus two for his three asists.

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Post Game Summary - Florida vs Philadelphia
- - FloridaPanthers.com
January 20, 2001

The Panthers led through two tonight but could not hold the Flyers off any longer, eventually dropping this one 5-3...

The Flyers came into tonight's game determined to cash in on some aggressive play after dropping two games in a row. They let the Panthers know how they intended to achieve this in the early going by taking the play to the net. Dan McGillis converted at 9:50 with a tap-in after the puck slid out from under Trevor Kidd when he was run over by Ruslan Fedotenko. To make matters worse, when Kidd argued the goal, he was given a two-minute penalty... Pavel Bure drew the Cats even at 12:17 on a shorthanded breakaway as he stole a pass intended for Andy Delmore at the point. Later in the period, Kidd was run into once again as he came out to stop the puck behind the net. Keith Primeau got a double minor for the incident giving the Cats a power play and the springboard they needed to go back at the Flyers.

In period two, the Flyers continued to crash the net and when Justin Williams was called for his slash on Kidd, the Panthers made them pay... Viktor Kozlov's shot from the left face-off circle blew by Cechmanek as Mike Sillinger crossed in front of him setting the screen. Trevor Kidd did his part to protect the Florida lead robbing Fedotenko of a sure thing with a diving stick save late in the period. Both teams engaged in some physical play in the second trying to swing momentum their way... Ward/Tocchet, Pitlick/Langkow, Fedoruk/Tetarenko and Jakopin/Richardson all gave it a go to the delight of the crowd.

The third period saw things collapse for the Cats as Philadelphia stormed back with four goals... Keith Primeau was the man who got it all started at 0:56 on the power play. Mark Recchi fed him from the side of the net and he blew it home from the top of the crease. Primeau wasn't done yet and tallied his second PPG at 7:55. Trevor Kidd had come out of the crease to cut the angle and instead of shooting, Dan McGillis fed Primeau who walked around Kidd and hit the target. Simon Gagne recorded his 18th of the season at 12:34 from the left hash marks off a feed from Recchi. Just a minute and a half later, Pavel Bure drew the Cats back to within one as he got his second of the night on the power play. Florida outworked the home team for the next several minutes but hit a brick wall called Roman Cechmanek. He stood tall against everything the Panthers threw at him including a flurry of shots from Kozlov, Eriksson and Bure just seconds apart. With 24 seconds left in the game, and an extra attacker on, Cechmanek made the save of the night robbing Dan Boyle with a beautiful glove save. Daymond Langkow sealed the victory with an empty-netter with less than one second remaining.

The three stars of the game were: Simon Gagne (3rd star), Dan McGillis (2nd star) and Keith Primeau (1st star).

The Panthers will head to Boston tomorrow for Monday night's match against the Bruins... Game time is 7:00 pm.

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Philadelphia 5, Florida 3
- - Florida 2, Dallas 0
January 20, 2001

HILADELPHIA -- With word that one of their leaders will be sidelined at least two more months, Keith Primeau picked an opportune time to assert himself for the Philadelphia Flyers.

Hours after learning that John LeClair may be out until April with a disk infection in his back, Primeau scored a pair of power-play goals seven minutes apart in the third period to lead the Flyers to a 5-3 victory over the lowly Florida Panthers.

Dan McGillis and Simon Gagne each added a goal and an assist for Philadelphia, which has played the entire season without former captain Eric Lindros. But even with the two former All-Stars out of the lineup, Philadelphia is 10-3-5-1 since coach Bill Barber replaced Craig Ramsay.

Pavel Bure had shorthanded and power-play goals for Florida on eight shots on goal, which fell to 1-24-7-6 when allowing more than one goal.

Pavel was a minus one for the game.

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Post Game Summary - Florida vs Buffalo
- - FloridaPanthers.com
January 19, 2001

The Florida Panthers went down to the Buffalo Sabres (1-0) tonight and there's just no other way to say it but, "this one hurt"...

The teams played through 59 minutes and 52 seconds of scoreless hockey, but with 7.9 seconds left, the Sabres sealed the deal. The goal came off a turnover in the Buffalo end as Bret Hedican unleashed a shot from the point. Denis Hamel blocked the shot and then carried in on a two-on-one with just Anders Eriksson back. Eriksson did what he could to take away Hamel's options, but the shot from the right face-off circle went over the shoulder of Roberto Luongo and the game was over.

The injustice of it all was simply that the Panthers had played a fantastic game and deserved at least a point... Luongo had a textbook outing and was simply the victim of lack of scoring at the other end. The Panthers had some superb chances but "the Dominator" was on top of his game and didn't give them many second chances. He was especially strong in the third period stoning the line of Kozlov, Bure and Worrell several times in the last half of the period.

The Panthers got only one go on the power play tonight, the Sabres had four tries... Buffalo finished with 36 shots on goal, Florida had 21... Zone time was split 26 minutes in the Panthers' end, 21 minutes in Buffalo's... The Sabres had the edge in face-offs (60%-40%), hits (18-12), giveaways (17-18) and takeaways (5-2). Despite the numbers though, I would be hard-pressed to say the Cats were ever out of this game. They played hard and have every reason to feel good about their effort.

Moving on, the team will hop a short flight to Philadelphia for tomorrow's contest with the Flyers. The game is set to begin at 7:00 pm and will be shown on FOX Sports Net locally and ESPN2 nationally.

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Florida 0, Buffalo 1
- - Yahoo.com
January 19, 2001

BUFFALO, NEW YORK -- Dominik Hasek always haunts the Panthers but Friday's loss is sure to cause a few sleepless nights for Florida.

Denis Hamel scored with 7.9 seconds left to snap a scoreless tie and Hasek remained unbeaten in his last nine contests against Florida as the Buffalo Sabres posted a 1-0 triumph over the punchless Panthers.

Florida's Bret Hedican was lining up a slap shot at the left point but his blast hit Hamel in the skates and bounced off the near boards. Hamel gathered in the puck, broke into the offensive zone alone and unleashed a slap shot that beat Panthers' goaltender Roberto Loungo high to the glove side.

It was Hamel's seventh goal and the Sabres' 36th shot of the game. Luongo, who kept the game scoreless with a series of spectacular stops, had little chance on the attempt.

Hasek, who made 21 saves in posting his sixth shutout of the season and 51st of his career, improved to 8-0-1 in his last nine games against Florida. He is in the midst of his best stretch of the season, allowing just eight goals in his last six games.

Pavel registered 6 shots on goal and was zero in the plus minus column.

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Post Game Summary - Florida vs Chicago
- - FloridaPanthers.com
January 17, 2001

The Florida Panthers matched up against a Chicago team that was desperate to continue their winning ways tonight and win they did (by a final score of 5-0)...

The Blackhawks played an inspired first period jumping on the Cats early. Just 1:47 into the game, Eric Daze connected on a play that was "fluky" at best. He was standing just at the edge of the crease and made contact with the puck on his backhand. It wasn't even a shot per se, but it found the back of the net somehow. The second Chicago goal came at 13:51 when a defensive breakdown in the Florida zone left Boris Mironov all alone in the right face-off circle. Dean McAmmond feathered a perfect pass cross-ice and Mironov blasted it by Luongo. With less than a second left in the period (and just 18 seconds into a power play) the 'Hawks increased their lead to three as Bob Probert knocked home a rebound from the top of the crease... The strangest play of the game came in the opening period when Anders Eriksson's stick broke in the Panthers end. Peter Worrell gave Anders his stick and began to make his way to the bench for a new piece of lumber. A deflection in front of the net saw the puck come right out to Peter in what would have (otherwise) been a breakaway. Since he had no stick, all he could do was kick the puck ahead...

The 3-0 score held through the second period due in large part to the stellar goaltending of Roberto Luongo. He was called upon several times from close range including a breakaway early on... The Panthers got their best chances of the period in the final seconds (on the power play) but Jocelyn Thibault shut the door on both Pavel Bure and Greg Adams in the low slot.

The Panthers just couldn't get a break tonight as evidenced by another incident in the third period. Pavel Bure drove to the net getting a shot on Thibault. As he poked at the rebound, he fell into the netminder leaving the puck inches away from the goal line. With no less than four players whacking away, the puck never moved and finally the whistle blew. Tony Amonte got his first shorthanded goal of the season at 2:32 of the third on a blast from the left face-off circle. A turnover deep in the Chicago end began that play and Alexei Zhamnov sent Amonte away with a forward pass. The Blackhawks were not done yet and neither was Bob Probert as he got his second of the night at 10:51. Tony Amonte threw the puck out from behind the net and it careened off a Panther skate right onto the stick of Probert in the high slot. Luongo never saw it coming.

The Panthers were simply out-hustled tonight by a team that has been on a roll of late. A total of 27:48 was played in the Florida zone compared to 17:55 in Chicago's end. The 'Hawks special teams were clicking with one power play goal, one shorthanded goal and a perfect penalty killing record of 3/3...

The three stars of the game were: Jocelyn Thibault (3rd star), Tony Amonte (2nd star) and Bob Probert (1st star).

The Cats will move on to Buffalo for a Friday evening contest against Lindy Ruff's Buffalo Sabres. Game time is 7:00 pm...

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Florida 0, Chicago 5
- - Yahoo.com
January 17, 2001

CHICAGO -- The Chicago Blackhawks and Florida Panthers are headed in different directions after similarly dismal starts.

Bob Probert recorded his first two-goal game in nearly five years and Jocelyn Thibault posted his fourth shutout of the season as the resurgent Blackhawks coasted to a 5-0 rout of the lowly Panthers.

Under first-year coach Alpo Suhonen, Chicago got off to a 2-7-0-1 start. But the Blackhawks had little trouble extending their unbeaten streak to five games (4-0-1-0) and improved to 9-2-2-0 in the last 13.

"Everything takes time," Probert said. "We got a new coach with a new system, but we understand it now."

Florida began the season with an eight-game winless streak and fired general manager Bryan Murray and his brother, coach Terry Murray, at the end of December. But the Panthers are last in the Southeast Division with a 9-23-8-6 record.

"Very disappointing," Florida coach Duane Sutter said. "Coming from maybe the season high vs. Dallas (on Monday) to maybe an all-time low. We just let them come right at us right away."

Chicago was in control from the start, grabbing a 1-0 lead at 1:47 of the opening period on Eric Daze's 14th goal. Daze deflected Stephane Quintal's flip over goaltender Roberto Luongo's left shoulder for his fourth tally in seven games.

Boris Mironov doubled the lead at 13:51, taking a cross-ice feed from Dean McAmmond and sliding a shot from the right faceoff circle between Luongo's pads.

Probert ended a 22-game goal-scoring drought with less than a second to go in the period, banging in a rebound of Tony Amonte's shot for his second of the season.

"It was the worst defensive performance since I became coach 10 games ago. I don't know why we were so respectful of the other team," Sutter said. "They've played well the last 10 games, but as far as the standings go, they're still in the bottom quarter of the league or whatever the (heck) it is."

"We knew they'd come out strong, so what did we do? We came out flat, made a bunch of mistakes and didn't play our system," added Panthers captain Scott Mellanby.

After Amonte added a shorthanded marker 2 1/2 minutes into the third period, Probert capped his first multi-goal effort since April 11, 1996 by scoring from the low slot off Amonte's centering pass.

"Absolutely, a great feeling to get a couple like that," Probert said. "And if we can keep rolling and keep winning, everyone will be happy."

Typical of the Panthers' frustrations was a moment with 7 1/2 minutes left in the first period. After giving his stick to a defenseman who had broken his, left wing Peter Worrell got the puck alone in the neutral zone but could do nothing except kick it across Chicago's blue line.

"We know what it's like to be in their shoes, but they have to keep on working and they'll get there," Amonte said. "We expected them to come out hard tonight because they're a Duane Sutter-coached team and some of our guys played for him when he coached in the Hawks' system."

Thibault was hardly tested and made only 16 saves. Pavel Bure got a step behind the Blackhawks defense late in the first period, but Kevin Dean backchecked and poked away the puck.

"It's a great feeling, but we really played a great team game," Thibault said. "Tonight was a must-win game because games like this can't slip away if we expect to make the playoffs."

Pavel was credited with 4 shots on goal and was a minus two for the game.

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Luongo, Bure only real trade bait
by Dave Hyde - - Sun-Sentinel
January 16, 2001

SUNRISE -- Like a groundhog, the Panthers appear from their hole once every so often to show us what their season might have been like, and where it could have led, and Monday night was their latest sighting. A 2-0 win. Against heavyweight Dallas. At home even.

Hoo-wah.

Huge win.

Hop aboard.

Seriously, anyone holding your breath until the Panthers won at home again, you can exhale now. Still, if the playoffs began today, not only would the Panthers not be allowed in them, they wouldn't be allowed to watch on television.

In fact, the only way the Panthers are in play is to the growing group of middle-aged men who sat in the second-row of the press box again Monday night inspecting this roster. A Kings scout. A Bruins scout. A franchise of Dallas scouts and two scouts from the Carolina Hurricanes, despite the fact that the Panthers don't play Carolina the rest of the way. Hmmmm.

And out of all the Panthers names coming up for trade -- Scott Mellanby, Rob Niedermayer, Mike Sillinger, Ray Whitney -- there are only two that matter, only two that are full assets, only two that can bring a big price and come with a question:

Can the Panthers say "no" enough times to teams asking about goalie Roberto Luongo?

And could they get enough to trade Pavel Bure?

That's it. These are the two gems of this franchise -- the only players capable of changing the roster through trade. You can talk about anyone else and it won't change things much. And yet if Luongo and Bure stay it presents marginal means of upgrading for next year.

"If we don't gain any ground on the trip, then it'll be time to look to next year," Bill Torrey, who controls all trade strings, said before Monday's win.

Here's the road trip: At Chicago. At Buffalo. At Philadelphia, at Boston and at Washington. Not a great team in the bunch. Not a terrible team, either, with two-games-under-.500 Chicago being the lightest lunch.

Torrey won't talk names or deals or possibilities. But Bure has 23 goals on a team going nowhere, one out of the NHL lead. He isn't only a goal-scoring machine. He is the only reason to buy a ticket to the Panthers.

Still, considering where this team sits, how much it needs and the $9.5 million salary Bure draws, they'd better listen to any offers for him. The question becomes: Who would pick up his salary? It's the main reason the Panthers got Bure in the first place.

Now, as you tick down what Toronto needs, what the New York Rangers need -- what teams with the money to pay him need -- it's virtually always defense. Not offense. Which is why it's doubtful there's a big enough return tag on Bure.

Luongo, meanwhile, goes the other way. The Panthers would be nuts to trade him. On Monday night, he showed why, at 21, in a position franchises begin with, he's a keeper. This might sound funny to the casual fan in South Florida and certainly to those wondering why General Manager Bryan Murray probably lost his job over him.

But Luongo is the No. 1 player teams are calling the Panthers about, according to a team source. He stopped four shots on an early Dallas power play. He stopped Joe Nieuwendyk in the high slot in the second period. Then, in the third period, he twice stopped the star of the Stars, Mike Modano, on breakaways.

"I didn't get the first one high enough -- I had a lot of net," Modano said. "The second one, he made a good play. I tried to go through his legs and he shut it down."

Conclusion on Luongo: "He's big, and he's pretty good," Modano said.

Of course, considering his prime is several years away, Luongo gets any benefit of the doubt this year. The same isn't said about the rest of this roster. Why didn't they put Monday's kind of effort into last week's big game at Carolina? Or the home one against Philadelphia?

You only get so many chances and, even from Panther management, the last one is coming for a lot of these players on this five-game road trip. Problem is, this team's situation is only two trades would bring much in return.

It can't trade the future in Luongo.

And, although it should look into trading Bure, it probably can't get enough in return for him.

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Post Game Summary - Florida vs Dallas
- - FloridaPanthers.com
January 16, 2001

The Panthers and Stars played through a scoreless first period in up-tempo fashion. Roberto Luongo had one of his better periods of hockey making 10 saves including a couple from point-blank range. The Cats had a turn on both penalty kill and power play and while they did not score - neither did Dallas... The first penalty kill was especially solid as they kept the Stars cycling through the zone without letting them get too close. On the power play, the Cats got some good shots away, but just none that got through. They looked especially hungry near the end of the first getting a few quality chances on Turco in the final minutes.

At the end of two, the teams were still knotted at zero... The Panthers seemed to have lost a little of their jump at the start of the period, but finished strong. The turning point seemed to come when Viktor Kozlov went down from a high stick along the boards in the Dallas zone. As he dug along the wall, Brad Lukowich caught him on the upswing with the shaft of the stick. Viktor went down bleeding - no penalty call... Something clicked at that moment and the Cats dug in. They moved the puck, kept their legs moving and played the body, all while getting quality shots at Marty Turco. Again this period, Roberto Luongo was absolutely outstanding.

The third period began much the same as the second but culminated in a much better ending... Two separate times in the final period, Mike Modano rushed the Panthers end breaking in on Roberto Luongo. Both times, Roberto shut the door keeping the Cats in the game. Finally, at 14:26 (after several minutes of end-to-end action), the Panthers' hard work paid off as Robbie Niedermayer put the puck on net and Mike Sillinger was able to get to the rebound before Marty Turco. The Stars responded with desperation but so did the Cats. Florida came again two minutes later, with Kozlov and Adams cruising in on a two-on-one with only Derian Hatcher back. Kozlov carried in and looked cross-ice for the pass. There was no lane open so he was forced to shoot and it paid dividends in the form of a goal. Kozlov got some height on the shot and lifted it over Turco to give the Cats the two-goal lead. The Panthers came oh-so-close to a third but with the Stars' net empty, Marcus Nilson went wide right...

The three stars of the game were: Marty Turco (3rd star), Mike Sillinger (2nd star) and rightfully so, Roberto Luongo (1st star).

Tonight's win was a full team effort. The Panthers won 60% of their face-offs, out-hit the Stars 37-25 and recorded 18 takeaways. Luongo made 33 saves in his third shutout of the season.

The Panthers hit the road tomorrow stopping first in Chicago before moving on to Buffalo, Philly, Boston and Washington. Game time on Wednesday is 8:30 pm (eastern).

*****

Coach's Comments

On tonight's win over Dallas:
"Anytime you get huge goaltending it's certainly key to any team. We've had it most of the time from both fellows. We stuck pretty much to the game plan. We tried to get it behind their 'D' and force them to turn it over. They played a pretty tough game last night in Tampa. It was just an overall real gutsy performance from 20 players."

On starting slowly but coming back:
"I think the guys might have been a little bit uptight. I don't think we allowed a shot in the last eight minutes of the first period, maybe a little bit more than that. We continued to slowly, slowly feel the confidence on the bench and the guys were all anxious to get out there and stick with the game plan. There was a lot of firepower down there too, so you're going to give up some chances against them."

On Panthers goalie Roberto Luongo:
"We traded for this kid last summer and we all knew as an organization that he had a big upside. Early in the year he played really well for us and we couldn't score goals for him. Tonight he did a great job, kept us in the game and we got a couple of bounces at the end, until Marcus (missed) the empty netter."

On salvaging a big win at the end of the three-game home stand:
"I said to them this morning 'Hey, I was as disappointed as any of you guys in getting one out of four points in the previous two games.' We made a couple of adjustments to our forechecking and it obviously helped. Just work hard and trust one another. I'll overlook mistakes if you're working hard. If you're not working hard, you only get one or two strikes and you might be on the bench or out of the lineup. There were times they were playing with fear instead of to win. Maybe that fear part of it was being scared to make mistakes. But you can see we made mistakes tonight. We made a lot of mistakes tonight but we worked hard. We worked our tails off."

On gaining momentum from tonight's win:
"I wish we played tomorrow. Hopefully it would carry over. It's a huge lift. This is a tough five-game trip. Hopefully it's a huge lift and we'll continue to reinforce everything that we've talked about tomorrow in practice. Chicago is playing really well. Chicago is playing a lot of tight hockey games right now - a lot of one-goal games - and they will not be an easy team to start the trip off against."

On the play of the Panthers' defensemen:
"All six 'D' were really good tonight. We had a physical presence back there which is something that we need."

On playing in front of a lot of scouts from other teams:
"We don't even look up there. They're too far up in this big building. A lot of teams are counting us out and they're all looking maybe to steal somebody. If you play hard like that, if we fall short of our goals, it will open up doors for everybody."

On the Panthers' goaltending situation:
"Kidder started a few in a row. I thought he deserved it. Even though he didn't win I thought he played very well. He made a lot of big saves at key times. Going into this three-game home stand we knew one guy wasn't going to play three games. Roberto came in and I told him on Saturday he was going to play tonight, so he had 48 hours to prepare and he did a whale of a job."

On the team committing to playing better defense:
"We had a chat today, the team did, just about trusting one another, focusing on your own game. We only have one Pavel Bure. Everybody's going to play a little bit different, but this guy's made a big commitment since I've come in here and he's working both ends of the ice. It's a credit to everybody tonight. Our forwards and 'D' played exceptional. Like I said earlier, we had everybody going hard tonight. It was a gutsy performance from everybody."

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Florida 2, Dallas 0
- - Yahoo.com
January 16, 2001

SUNRISE, FLORIDA -- The Florida Panthers hung around long enough to pull out their fourth win in 22 home games.

Roberto Luongo stopped 30 shots for his third shutout of the season and Mike Sillinger and Viktor Kozlov scored 2:27 apart late in the third period as the Panthers blanked the Dallas Stars, 2-0.

Luongo kept Florida in it even though Dallas dominated play for more than 2 1/2 periods. Mike Modano came in on a shorthanded breakaway with 17 minutes left in the third, but Luongo used his glove to get a piece of his wrist shot.

"The first one, I knew it was (Modano) because he got a breakaway at the red line and I had time to see who it was," Luongo said. "No matter who's coming, the most important thing is not to make the first move. I didn't think it was that far out to take a shot. Luckily, I reacted well to it and the puck went in the corner."

Less than six minutes later, Luongo sprawled to deny Modano again. And with 4:23 remaining, he extended his left pad to stop Joe Nieuwendyk's wraparound attempt.

"We traded for this kid last summer and we all knew as an organization that he had a big upside," Panthers coach Duane Sutter said of his goalie. "Early in the year, he played really well for us and we couldn't score goals for him. Tonight he did a great job, kept us in the game and we got a couple of bounces in the end."

"I was surprised that I got that open to begin with," Modano said. "I think on the first one, I just didn't get up high enough. I got it caught kind of halfway up the top of the net. The second one, I just figured I'd try something else."

Just over a minute earlier, Sillinger ended the duel of young goaltenders with his ninth goal. Rob Niedermayer came up with a steal along the left boards and tried a backhander that was blocked and dribbled across the slot. Sillinger got the puck on the right side and wristed it past rookie Marty Turco.

"I saw the opportunity and I went to go to the net. It ended up on my stick and I just kind of chipped it in," Sillinger said.

With 3:07 to play, three Stars were caught in the Panthers' zone, sending Kozlov and Greg Adams in on a 2-on-1. Kozlov used the former Star as a decoy, then snapped a shot from the right faceoff circle past Turco for his third goal of the season.

"I just tried to shoot," said Kozlov. "We give away so many scoring chances (trying) to pass. I took the safe play and I got lucky."

Florida ended a four-game winless streak (0-3-1-0) and improved to just 4-12-4-2 at home. The Panthers had lost the previous four meetings with Dallas.

"We had three games at home here and we got three of the six points," Sillinger noted. "But it's definitely a confidence booster anytime you beat a team like that."

Turco made 18 saves for the Stars, who had a four-game road winning streak stopped and lost for only the fourth time in their last 12 overall.

"We played a good game, but we didn't finish," said Dallas coach Ken Hitchcock. "We made the goalie look good in some instances, he was good in some other instances. We had quality looks in the first period, stopped shooting the puck in the second and had some more quality looks in the third. We had two or three breakaways. You're not going to score if you don't score on the opportunities you have."

Turco had a personal five-game winning streak stopped, despite stopping all 12 shots over the first two periods.

"You only want to outplay the other guy. Tonight, I got outplayed and we didn't win the game," he said.

Pavel was not credited with any shots on goal, and was a zero in the plus minus column.

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Pavel in 'Gear' magazine
- - Gear Magazine
January 15, 2001

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Fans choose Bure to be All-Star starter
By Brian Biggane - - Palm Beach Post
January 14, 2001

SUNRISE -- Florida Panthers right winger Pavel Bure was voted into a starting position for the World Team in next month's NHL All-Star Game, finishing behind Pittsburgh's Jaromir Jagr but nearly 20,000 votes ahead of Anaheim's Teemu Selanne in voting results announced Saturday.

The honor is the sixth of his career for Bure, who last year earned MVP honors after registering a hat trick and one assist in a 9-4 World Team victory. Bure entered Saturday's game against Philadelphia with 23 goals and 36 points.

Jagr led all vote-getters with 275,395 votes. Other World starters are Peter Forsberg of Colorado at center, goaltender Dominik Hasek of Buffalo and Nicklas Lidstrom of Detroit and Sandis Ozolinsh of Carolina on defense.

North American starters include top vote-getter Raymond Bourque of Colorado and Chris Pronger of St. Louis on defense, Patrick Roy of Colorado in goal, Theoren Fleury of the New York Rangers and Paul Kariya of Anaheim at wing and Joe Sakic of Colorado at center.

The remaining players on the North America squad will be announced Tuesday. The World reserves will be announced Wednesday.

The game will be played Feb. 4 at the Pepsi Center in Denver.

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Bure set to start in All-Star Game
- - Miami Herald
January 14, 2001

NEW YORK -- The Colorado Avalanche will be well represented in front of their hometown fans in the NHL All-Star Game. The Panthers will at least be represented.

Avalanche goalie Patrick Roy (174,963 votes), center Joe Sakic (126,073) and defenseman Ray Bourque (215,903) will start for the North American team, based on final voting results released Saturday. Colorado center Peter Forsberg (209,182) will start for the World All-Stars in the game in Denver on Feb. 4.

It marks the first time a team has had as many as four players start the game since the 1992 Pittsburgh Penguins. This is the 15th season fan balloting has determined starting lineups.

Florida's Pavel Bure (135,023), last year's All-Star Game MVP with a hat trick and an assist, will start at wing for the World team in his sixth All-Star appearance.

Other starters for the North American team include forwards Theo Fleury of the New York Rangers (152,785) and Anaheim's Paul Kariya (151,893), and St. Louis defenseman Chris Pronger (176,667).

Pittsburgh's Jaromir Jagr received the most votes for the third time in four years with 275,395, and will start at forward for the World All-Stars along with Bure. Detroit's Niklas Lidstrom (218,714) and Carolina's Sandis Ozolinsh (185,173) will be the starting defensemen, and Buffalo's Dominik Hasek (196,239) will be the starting goalie.

The remaining players for the North American roster, to be selected by the NHL's Hockey Operations Department, will be announced Tuesday, and the remaining players on the World All-Stars' roster will be announced Wednesday.

Pittsburgh's Mario Lemieux, who came back after a 3 1/2-year retirement, probably will play in the game as a reserve or by invitation from commissioner Gary Bettman. Since 1991, players such as Guy Lafleur, Bryan Trottier, Brad Marsh, Mark Howe and Mark Messier have played in the game that way.

Bourque will make his 19th career All-Star Game appearance, moving into second place on the career list behind Gordie Howe's 23. Bourque, 40, will become the seventh-oldest player to appear, following Howe (51), Doug Harvey (44), Gump Worsley (42), Allan Stanley (41), Jacques Plante (41) and Larry Robinson (40).

St. Louis' Joel Quenneville will coach the North Americans, and Ottawa's Jacques Martin will be behind the bench for the World team.

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Bure selected starter for World All-Stars
by Michael Russo - - Sun-Sentinel
January 14, 2001

SUNRISE -- Panthers right wing Pavel Bure will be given a chance to defend last year's All-Star Game MVP title when he starts for the World All-Star Team in Denver on Feb. 4 at 2:30 p.m. (ABC).

Bure, who had a hat trick and an assist at last year's game in Toronto, will make his sixth All-Star Game appearance and will start in his third game, the first since 1994.

Four members of the Colorado Avalanche -- centers Joe Sakic and Peter Forsberg, defenseman Ray Bourque and goalie Patrick Roy -- will start in front of their hometown fans.

Rounding out the World Team is Pittsburgh's Jaromir Jagr, Detroit's Nicklas Lidstrom, Carolina's Sandis Ozolinsh and Buffalo's Dominik Hasek. Rounding out the North American Team will be the Rangers' Theo Fleury, Anaheim's Paul Kariya and St. Louis' Chris Pronger.

Bure was selected as a starter after receiving 135,023 votes, second of all World wingers to Jagr, who was the game's leading vote-getter for the third time in four years (275,395). Bourque will make his 19th career appearance, moving into second place on the all-time list behind Gordie Howe (23).

The NHL's Hockey Operations Department will choose the rest of the All-Star Game rosters. The North American Team will be announced Tuesday and the World Team on Wednesday.

An ESPY for Bure?

Bure is also one of four players nominated for the Hockey of the Year ESPY (Excellence in Sports Performance Yearly). The ESPN awards show will take place in Las Vegas on Feb. 12 and will be hosted by actor Samuel L. Jackson.

Bure is nominated along with Jagr, Pronger and New Jersey's Scott Stevens.

Mario Lemieux has won three career ESPY's, while Hasek has won two and Mark Messier, Eric Lindros and Joe Sakic one each.

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Berth a boost for Bure
by Phil Coffey - - NHL.com
January 13, 2001

Pavel Bure and the Panthers are looking for a strong finish to the season.

This hasn't quite been the season the Florida Panthers had in mind.

Count Pavel Bure in that group, too.

After a solid 43-33-6 record and second-place finish in the Southeast Division in 1999-2000, big things were expected from Bure and the Panthers this season. Instead, the Panthers have struggled mightily almost from the first drop of the puck.

There hasn't been much to cheer about for Panthers fans, but they can take some solace from the fact the Pavel Bure has once again proven to be among the most popular players in the NHL, having been voted to the World All-Stars starting lineup by the fans.

And there is good reason for the honor for the dynamic "Russian Rocket." He is a fast, savvy skater with a deadly shot. Once again this season Bure is among the League leaders in goals, as he looks to repeat as the Maurice "Rocket" Richard Trophy winner for a second-straight season.

Last season, Bure led the NHL in goals with 58 and was the runner-up to fellow World All-Star Jaromir Jagr in the race for the Art Ross Trophy as the League's leading scorer.

Bure's presence should give the Panthers hope for the remainder of the season. If new coach Duane Sutter can iron out the assortment of problems confronting the team, he knows he has plenty of instant offense to rely upon in Bure, who led the League in game-winning goals last season with 14.

Bure played a huge role in the Panthers' success last season, finishing first among Florida players in goals (58), points (94) and plus/minus (plus-25), while finishing fourth in assists (36).

Bure was the first Panther to reach the 50-goal mark, and also set franchise marks for career hat tricks (6) and hat tricks in a season (4). He also broke the franchise record for points in a season when he scored his 71st point in a March 3, 2000 game against the New York Rangers.

He and younger brother Valeri of the Calgary Flames broke the NHL record for goals by two brothers in a season as the pair combined for 89 tallies. The brothers also were teammates in the 50th NHL All-star Game in Toronto, where Pavel walked away with MVP honors based on a hat trick and an assist. Pavel became just the 11th player in League history to net three goals in an All-Star Game.

When the 2000-2001 season opened, Bure was 37th among active goal-scoring leaders in the NHL. Bure' .634 goals-per-game ratio is pretty heady stuff. Of the active players, only Dallas' Brett Hull (.649) is higher. And Bure had compiled his totals in nine seasons, compared to the 15 turned in by Hull entering the 2000-2001 season.

Those statistics tells you two things about Bure's career. First, he makes his shots counts, and secondly, he's missed a lot of games.

A knee injury in 1995-96 scuttled Bure's season with the Vancouver Canucks, as he appeared in only 15 games. In 1998-99, Bure was a holdout from the Canucks and missed the bulk of the season until the trade that made him the linchpin of the Florida Panthers' attack. But even in Florida, the injury bug bit hard. He missed eight games with a right knee injury, returned to the lineup, and then was lost for the season in early March with knee problems that eventually required surgery.

Bure looked to be the picture of health at the start of the 1999-2000 season, and he wasted little time proving the point, scoring the Panthers' first goal of the season on the team's first shot on goal. Still, injuries have tried to compromise his season. A groin strain cost him five games, and then a broken finger forced him to spend three more games on the sidelines.

Bure, who will be appearing in his sixth NHL All-Star Game on Feb. 4th in Denver, has taken a philosophical approach to coping with the pain and frustration of injury.

Last season, Pavel Bure finished as the runner-up to Jaromir Jagr as the NHL's top overall scorer. Bure won the Richard Trophy as the top goal producer.

"Injuries are a part of hockey and it is not what happens to you, it is how you react," he said of missing games. "Obviously, it was a big disappointment for me, but I just have to deal with it. I am really happy it is behind me."

But there were doubts in Bure's mind as the 1999-2000 season began. Knee surgery has a way of planting doubts even among the strongest-willed athletes.

"It was a pretty hard time for me," Bure said of rehabbing from last March's surgery. "I was kind of down, but I think I was just lucky because I have really good friends, really good family who was supporting me through this hard time. As I said, it is all behind me and now I have to move on.

"The more games you play, the more confidence you have in yourself," he said. "Obviously, when I stepped on the ice after my second surgery, I didn't have confidence. But, you just have to take one step at a time and the more you play, the more confidence you have."

The 1999-2000 season was an eye-opener for the hockey fans of South Florida, who had grown accustomed to seeing a defensive brand of hockey. But he had provided an appetizer in 1998-99, when in only 11 games with the Panthers following a Jan. 17, 1999 deal with the Canucks, Bure scored 13 goals, connecting on an impressive 29.5 percent of his shots.

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Post Game Summary - Florida vs Philadelphia
- - FloridaPanthers.com
January 13, 2001

As was the case the last time these teams met, the Flyers defeated the Panthers by three goals tonight... Final score 4-1.

It was a hard-fought opening period of play but the Cats were looking at a 2-0 deficit by the end of the first 20 minutes... Florida held the Flyers at bay through twelve minutes including 1:21 of 5-on-3 hockey. Trevor Kidd made several key plays on that disadvantage including two on top-scorer Simon Gagne. Kidder got the left pad out both times with Gagne camped on the doorstep effectively taking him out of the play. The first Philly goal came from rookie Justin Williams off a cross-ice feed from Peter White. It appeared that Trevor might have been expecting White to take the shot, as Williams was looking at nothing but net. Inside the final minute of the period, the Flyers came again and it was a seemingly innocent shot from the boards that beat the Florida netminder. Mark Recchi just meant to get the puck on net but it flew over the shoulder of Kidd surprising everyone.

Solid defense and goaltending highlighted the second period, as neither team would get anything on the board... The Panthers fell victim to an unfortunate call at 16:29 when Pavel Bure netted a goal that was called back by the officials. Before the puck went in, Mike Sillinger bowled over Roman Cechmanek in the crease after some contact from behind by Andy Delmore. Sillinger had little chance to avoid the hit, but not only was the goal disallowed, he got a charging call as well. The Cats were fantastic on the ensuing penalty kill but still headed into the third period down by two.

Philadelphia would open things up early in the third with a shorthanded goal. The play began in the Flyers' end when a turnover at the blueline sent Paul Ranheim and Kent Manderville away. Manderville put a forward pass on the stick of Ranheim and he slipped the puck around the outstretched leg of Trevor Kidd. The Panthers foiled the Flyers' shutout bid at 5:06 of the period on the same powerplay. The puck was initially put on net by Anders Eriksson from the point. The rebound on that shot went right to Pavel Bure and he got one away with Rob Niedermayer cruising through the crease. Review of the goal showed that Niedermayer got his stick on Bure's shot giving him his 6th of the season. Philly came back with one more at 9:26 off a 2-on-1 break with only Dan Boyle back. Daymond Langkow carried the puck into the Florida end and passed cross-ice to Rick Tocchet for the goal.

The Flyers finished the game tonight with 41 shots on goal and 26 minutes of play in the Florida zone. The edge in hits and face-offs went to the Cats.

The three stars of the game tonight were: Roman Cechmanek (3rd star), Dan McGillis (2nd star) and Eric Desjardins (1st star).

The Cats have one more game at home (Monday, vs Dallas) before hitting the road for a five-game trip on Tuesday. Please keep in mind that Monday's game will begin at 7:00 pm and will be televised locally and nationally on ESPN2.

*****

Coach's Comments

On the game overall:
"First period we didn't do much. We just plain and simple got outworked in the first period. The second period was better. The third period was better but we can't continually play 40 minutes a night and think you're going to win a lot of hockey in this league."

On the Panthers having limited scoring chances:
"We only had nine chances tonight - one in the first, three in the second and five in the third. That's all we had, but we started to get more as we threw the puck at the net. We had the opportunity to get more when we started putting the puck on net."

On the Flyers going up 2-0 just before the first intermission:
"That wasn't a very good goal. The second goal was a tough goal. If we get out of the first period down 1-0 then we're right there knocking on the door. The second goal was a tough goal. You stand up, it hits you right in the belly."

On the Panthers' goal that was disallowed due to a charging penalty on Mike Sillinger:
"That's a tough call. I watched the replay. I understand what Kerry Fraser's saying but - as when I said to him at the start of the third period - if you and I are going to collide and I'm on my knees, he's not going to leave his hands right by his sides. He's going to bring them up in self defense. He said also the rule was anytime the goaltender loses his mask, the whistle is supposed to blow right away, so that would have nullified the goal. That is the mandate from the league. The whistle is supposed to blow right away. I don't know how that works when you have an empty net."

On why Kerry Fraser made the call on Sillinger:
"He said he got his hands up and rotated his left shoulder into Cechmanek's head. There's one angle that shows that maybe it was intentional, but as I said to him on the ice, If you're going to collide like that, it's natural you're going to bring your arms up. You're not going to leave them down by your side. It's just an instinctive movement."

On coming out with energy and feeding off of last night's goal in the final minute against Carolina:
"I felt before the game we would, in the dressing room. It's tough to get a feel for this team because they're such a quiet group in the locker room. All you can go on is instinct and I felt they were ready. I talked to a couple of veterans after warmup and they indicated to me that they were ready to go."

----Back to Headline List----

Philadelphia 4, Florida 1
- - Yahoo.com
January 13, 2001

SUNRISE, FLORIDA -- Roman Cechmanek and the Philadelphia Flyers just keep on rolling.

Cechmanek stopped 24 shots to extend his personal unbeaten streak to 12 games and the Flyers stretched theirs to six with a 4-1 victory over the listless Florida Panthers.

A 29-year-old from the Czech Republic, Cechmanek is too old for consideration for the Calder Trophy as the NHL's top rookie. If he were, he would give San Jose goaltender Evgeni Nabokov a real battle.

Cechmanek extended his shutout streak to 125 minutes, 25 seconds before Rob Niedermayer scored a power-play goal in the third period. But he improved to 9-0-3 since a 5-3 loss at Ottawa on December 2.

"I was the second goalie at the start of the season, (play) maybe 20 games. But now I've played 26 already," Cechmanek said.

"He breeds confidence in our team by the way he plays," added Flyers left wing Paul Ranheim, who scored a key shorthanded goal. "The bottom line is he stops the puck and then makes the second and third saves. He's been the key for us."

Rookie Justin Williams and Mark Recchi scored just under seven minutes apart late in the first period to send the Flyers on their way. They are 4-0-2-0 in the last six games and two points behind first-place New Jersey in the Atlantic Division.

"We set a goal for these three games -- to get points," said Philadelphia coach Bill Barber, who is 9-2-5-0 since replacing the fired Craig Ramsay. "But we had to be careful with teams like Florida that are down. The guys responded well, but we're anxious to get home. They deserve a break."

The Panthers' latest winless streak reached four games (0-3-1-0) as they were held to one goal or less for the 14th time this season.

"The first period, we didn't do much, we just plain and simple got outworked. The second and third period were better," said Florida coach Duane Sutter. "But we can't continually play 40 minutes a night and think you're going to win a lot of hockey in this league."

Goaltender Trevor Kidd helped the Panthers kill an 81-second two-man advantage in the first period with stops on Simon Gagne and Eric Desjardins. He denied Gagne on a partial breakaway later in the period, but was helped as Williams took a cross-slot pass from Peter White and put a shot under the crossbar with 7:34 left.

"It was a blue line turnover by them. White made a great play in getting the puck back to me," said Williams, who has 10 goals. "We studied Kidd and know he likes to go down low. So three of our four goals were up high."

Recchi doubled the lead in the final minute of the opening period, firing a slap shot from the outside edge of the left faceoff circle over Kidd's left shoulder for his eighth goal.

"That second goal was a tough goal," Sutter admitted. "If we get out of the first period down 1-0, then we're right there, knocking on the door."

The Panthers appeared to solve Cechmanek when Pavel Bure scored off a rebound with 3:31 left in the second period. But the goal immediately was waved off by referee Kerry Fraser, who penalized Florida center Mike Sillinger for charging into Cechmanek.

Ranheim made it 3-0 at 4:32 of the third with Philadelphia's second shorthanded goal of the season. Kent Manderville sent him in on a breakaway and Ranheim deked to his backhand before sliding the puck around Kidd's left pad.

"It was a big win in a couple of ways," Ranheim said. "They'd been taking the game to us and that goal took the wind out of their sails."

Niedermayer answered on the power play 34 seconds later, but Rick Tocchet scored off an odd-man rush at 9:26 to cap the scoring.

"When you go 3-0 on the road, you've got to be happy," Tocchet said. "It was a helluva trip."

Please Note: SCORING CHANGE - CREDIT THE FLORIDA GOAL TO ROBNIEDERMAYER, HIS SIXTH, FROM PAVEL BURE AND ANDERS ERIKSSON. THE GOAL WAS ORIGINALLY CREDITED TO BURE.

Pavel ended up with an assist, and minus four for the game on four shots on goal.

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2001 NHL All-Star Game Starters
- - CNN
January 13, 2001

2001 NHL All-Star Game Starters
2001 NHL All-Star Game -- Feb. 4 -- Denver, Colorado
Player	Position	Country	Team
North America Team
Joe Sakic	Center	Canada	Colorado
Theo Fleury	Right Wing	Canada	NY Rangers
Paul Kariya	Left Wing	Canada	Anaheim
Ray Bourque	Defenseman	Canada	Colorado
Chris Pronger	Defenseman	Canada	St. Louis
Patrick Roy	Goaltender	Canada	Colorado
World Team
Peter Forsberg	Center	Sweden	Colorado
Jaromir Jagr	Right Wing	Czech Rep.	Pittsburgh
Pavel Bure	Left Wing	Russia	Florida
Nicklas Lidstrom	Defenseman	Sweden	Detroit
Sandis Ozolinsh	Defenseman	Latvia	Carolina
Dominik Hasek	Goaltender	Czech Rep.	Buffalo

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Final All-Star voting World Team
- - CNN
January 13, 2001

Final All-Star Voting World Team
2001 NHL All-Star Game -- Feb. 4 -- Denver, Colorado
Player	Country	NHL Club	Votes
Centers
Peter Forsberg	Sweden	Colorado	209,182
Sergei Fedorov	Russia	Detroit	92,605
Mats Sundin	Sweden	Toronto	76,978
Alexei Kovalev	Russia	Pittsburgh	55,005
Bobby Holik	Czech Rep.	New Jersey	39,679
Radek Bonk	Czech Rep.	Ottawa	33,073
Petr Nedved	Czech Rep.	NY Rangers	26,000
Martin Straka	Czech Rep.	Pittsburgh	24,260
Michal Handzus	Slovakia	St. Louis	24,193
Alexei Yashin	Russia	Ottawa	23,238
Saku Koivu	Finland	Montreal	17,109
Viktor Kozlov	Russia	Florida	16,718
Alexei Zhamnov	Russia	Chicago	15,376
Patrik Stefan	Czech Rep.	Atlanta	11,928
Wingers
Jaromir Jagr	Czech Rep.	Pittsburgh	275,395
Pavel Bure	Russia	Florida	135,023
Teemu Selanne	Finland	Anaheim	115,545
Zigmund Palffy	Slovakia	Los Angeles	114,489
Milan Hejduk	Czech Rep.	Colorado	106,489
Marian Hossa	Slovakia	Ottawa	66,822
Jere Lehtinen	Finland	Dallas	65,578
Patrik Elias	Czech Rep.	New Jersey	58,637
Petr Sykora	Czech Rep.	New Jersey	53,854
Markus Naslund	Sweden	Vancouver	51,902
Miroslav Satan	Slovakia	Buffalo	45,476
Pavol Demitra	Slovakia	St. Louis	42,165
Valeri Bure	Russia	Calgary	42,072
Sami Kapanen	Finland	Carolina	41,209
Sergei Berezin	Russia	Toronto	35,930
Daniel Alfredsson	Sweden	Ottawa	30,432
Mariusz Czerkawski	Poland	NY Islanders	22,006
Sergei Krivokrasov	Russia	Minnesota	18,794
Defensemen
Nicklas Lidstrom	Sweden	Detroit	218,714
Sandis Ozolinsh	Latvia	Carolina	185,173
Sergei Zubov	Russia	Dallas	152,189
Darius Kasparaitis	Russia	Pittsburgh	109,342
Roman Hamrlik	Czech Rep.	NY Islanders	82,597
Teppo Numminen	Finland	Phoenix	69,198
Dimitri Yushkevich	Russia	Toronto	67,054
Jiri Slegr	Czech Rep.	Pittsburgh	66,740
Mattias Ohlund	Sweden	Vancouver	57,408
Oleg Tverdovsky	Russia	Anaheim	56,963
Tomas Kaberle	Czech Rep.	Toronto	55,030
Jyrki Lumme	Finland	Phoenix	41,874
Kenny Jonsson	Sweden	NY Islanders	36,087
Robert Svehla	Slovakia	Florida	25,848
Boris Mironov	Russia	Chicago	24,562
Jaroslav Spacek	Czech Rep.	Chicago	19,720
Goaltenders
Dominik Hasek	Czech Rep.	Buffalo	196,239
Roman Turek	Czech Rep.	St. Louis	134,783
Tommy Salo	Sweden	Edmonton	129,368
Olaf Kolzig	Germany	Washington	98,239
Arturs Irbe	Latvia	Carolina	93,687

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Bure makes it a point to produce tie
by Michael Russo - - Sun-Sentinel
January 13, 2001

SUNRISE -- Ties don't mean much, especially when the ties come against the Carolina Hurricanes, the team the Panthers are frantically chasing for the eighth and final playoff spot.

That's why after Pavel Bure sent the Panthers into overtime Friday night with 22.2 seconds left in regulation, coach Duane Sutter used every weapon and strategy in his arsenal to try to capitalize and grab an extra point with an overtime victory.

Unfortunately for the Panthers, they weren't able to put another behind Arturs Irbe and had to settle for a 2-2 final and remain 12 points behind the Hurricanes.

With eight wins, the fewest in the NHL, the Panthers are desperate for victories to get back into the playoff race.

So instead of a normal configuration of two forwards and two defensemen in the 4-on-4 overtime, Sutter played either three forwards or four forwards during four minutes of the five-minute overtime. Bure played close to four minutes to log a season-high 30:16 of ice time.

During a timeout, Sutter radioed up to the press box and asked Assistant General Manager Chuck Fletcher permission to play four forwards. It was would be a risk because if the Panthers lost, they would have fallen 13 points behind Carolina. If the Panthers had won, they would have improved to 11 points behind.

"I wanted to go with at least three forwards and then I thought, 'What the hell? Go for it,"' Sutter said. "There was a lot on the line tonight, so I wanted to make sure I didn't screw up. I wasn't 100 percent sure of my decision, so I asked Chuck."

This is a tactic one might expect used in April, when a team is a few points back from a playoff spot. Because of their poor first half, the Panthers are in a conundrum where they must take gambles.

"We don't have anything to lose," defenseman Lance Pitlick said.

Bure agreed, saying, "We got the point no matter what, so maybe it's a good idea to take a chance and try to score because we're in a situation where we need wins only."

The exciting overtime came after Bure scored what he believes is his first career 6-on-5 goal in the final seconds of the third, which is remarkable considering he has 348 career goals. It was the first time the Panthers have scored with a sixth attacker since Jan. 6, 1999, at Colorado.

For about three minutes, the Panthers couldn't get into the offensive zone as the Hurricanes tried to protect a 2-1 lead by keeping five players back.

Ray Whitney dumped the puck, and the Panthers gained possession after a well-timed and aggressive pinch by defenseman Yan Golubovsky, traded to the Panthers last month for Igor Larionov and making his Panthers debut.

The puck came to the boards, and Olli Jokinen shoved it to the point to Anders Eriksson. Eriksson's point shot deflected off a Carolina player in the high slot and bounced to Bure, who lifted it over Irbe for the tying goal, his 23rd.

"It would have been disappointing to just come away with a 2-1 loss," goalie Trevor Kidd said.

The Panthers came out strong and took a 1-0 lead 1:53 into the first on Greg Adams' fifth goal. The Panthers' energy deflated as they were outshot 22-6 over a 30-minute span beginning midway through the first.

Kidd (33 saves) was terrific. He kept the Panthers in the game with a number of saves. The goals he allowed to Jeff O'Neill, one of his closest friends, came off lucky bounces.

"The goals against ... the best goalie in the world wouldn't have been able to save those," Bure said.

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Bure scores with 22.2 left
by David J. Neal - - Miami Herald
January 13, 2001

Maybe the Panthers didn't pump new life into their season Friday night against Carolina, but they stopped it short of death -- 22.2 seconds short, to be precise.

That's how much time remained in regulation when Panthers right wing Pavel Bure smacked in a dribbling puck from in front of the right post to give the Panthers a 2-2 tie against Carolina.

The announced crowd at National Car Rental Center was 12,727, the smallest Panthers crowd since March 21, 1996, when 12,704 tickets were sold for the Panthers' 3-2 win over the Islanders.

``Tonight, we got the break, and we feel good about ourselves right now,'' said Panthers goalie Trevor Kidd, who made two last-second stops to preserve the tie. ``I think we would've been disappointed in our effort if we had just come away with a 2-1 loss and the fact that we gave them life in the second period.''

Carolina began the night eighth in the Eastern Conference, 12 points ahead of Florida. It was the Panthers' last game against Carolina.

That's why Panthers coach Duane Sutter began overtime with three forwards and a defenseman, then went with four forwards later in the extra five minutes.

``I wanted to go with at least three forwards, and then I thought, `What the hell? Go for it,' '' Sutter said.

Bure played about four minutes in the thrilling overtime, which ended with Carolina's Martin Gelinas popping a pass from Ron Francis over the net.

Overtime has become customary between Florida and Carolina; nine of the past 14 meetings have gone into OT, including seven of the past eight in South Florida.

That they were there at all showed a resilience the Panthers often have lacked in adverse situations this season.

Kidd was pulled for an extra skater in the last half-minute when Panthers defenseman Yan Golubovsky pinched deep into the left corner for a dump-in.

That got the puck to Olli Jokinen halfway up the boards, and Jokinen shoved it to Anders Eriksson at the point.

Eriksson's wrister hit a Carolina player and bounced to an open Bure, who had an open net. Bure said it was his first career goal with his own goaltender pulled. It was the Panthers' first since Jan. 6, 1999.

``I think we played pretty well. The effort was there,'' Bure said. ``I don't have words anymore for it. We're just so unlucky. The goals against . . . a guy shoots from the corner and hits two different people and goes in. Nobody's fault. The best goalie in the world can't save it.''

That was Jeff O'Neill's second goal, a wide-angle shot from the left circle that skipped off the ice, off the heel of Florida defenseman Robert Svehla's stick, and into the net to give Carolina a 2-1 lead at 7:25 of the third.

O'Neill's first goal, at 9:07 of the second, was a power-play swat after Panthers center Rob Niedermayer knocked down David Tanabe's blue-line wrister.

``We were giving it to each other all night,'' Kidd said of O'Neill, a friend and former teammate. ``The second period, he kind of poked a couple of pucks, speared me in the leg, and I'm yelling at [referee Kerry] Fraser, `This guy's spearing me.' I'm telling him to fight Pete [Worrell] in that scrum there in the second period.''

The Panthers, humiliated Tuesday by Carolina 7-3, had their most energetic start since Sutter's first game as coach two weeks ago.

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Silence says a lot about Bure
by By Greg Stoda - - Palm Beach Post
January 12, 2001

Let's cut to the chase on the Florida Panthers and their mess of an NHL season.

Let's cut to Pavel Bure, who two years ago this month came to the Panthers in a trade from Vancouver in the clearest sign that the franchise was ready to do everything necessary to work its way back toward the glory days of the 1995-96 season when Florida reached the Stanley Cup Finals.

Now, look at 'em.

The Panthers have played 42 games this season -- just more than half the schedule -- and won eight times. Eight. They are for sale. They have fired a head coach and a general manager.

Through it all, Bure, who shortly after his arrival in South Florida signed a five-year, $47.5 million deal with an option for a sixth year and another $10 million, has been the focus of much speculation. The specific question is whether he might best serve the Panthers as a Panther or as a commodity in trade to set off a massive reconstruction project.

"I can only control what happens on the ice," Bure said Thursday afternoon. "That's my duty to the team. Off the ice, there's nothing I can do. I'm not the general manager; I'm only a hockey player. One thing, I will tell you. I am still really liking to be here."

The rub, though, is that the Panthers need more from Bure in those very places he says there's nothing he can do. They need him to be a strong voice in this time of turmoil and trouble. It wasn't lost on anyone that on the day the Brothers Murray -- Terry and Bryan -- were fired, Bure had nothing to say.

"I am who I am," Bure said. "I'm not going to change. I'm myself. I'm willing to sacrifice (scoring) goals to play better defense. That is something I can do."

Will that be enough to keep Bure in a Panthers uniform? Florida was one of the few teams with which Bure was willing to sign a long-term deal two years ago.

"We looked at the lineup, the organization, we knew Bryan Murray and (team president) Bill Torrey and we were comfortable with what they were trying to accomplish," Bure's agent said after the contract was signed.

Last season, the Panthers were 43-33-6 and seemed to be going in the right direction. This season, however, they already have lost or tied 34 games with almost three months remaining on the schedule. Bure, who had scored 71 goals in 85 regular-season games with Florida coming into this season, has 22 goals.

"It's a tough situation right now," Bure said. "You can't just give up."

But on many nights, that's exactly what it looks like the Panthers do.

Bure insists that's not true, of course. He says all the right things about the firings of the Murrays and new head coach Duane Sutter.

"Sometimes, things don't go the way you want," Bure said. "I want to score two goals every game and win, but it's not going to happen. It's gotta get better. We've got a really good group."

Not really.

The Panthers are near the bottom of the league in points (29) going into tonight's game against Carolina in the National Car Rental Center and in desperate need of a player to lead them through word and deed.

Bure, for all his wonderful skills, isn't that guy.

Even he says so.

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Hockey Player of the Year ESPY nominees
- - ESPN.com
January 12, 2001

ESPN announced the ESPY nominees for the ninth annual ESPY Awards, to be held at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas on February 12.

The four hockey finalists are Pavel Bure, Jaromir Jagr, Chris Pronger and Scott Stevens.

Further information may be found at http://espn.go.com/espy2001/index.html

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Post Game Summary - Florida vs Carolina
- - FloridaPanthers.com
January 12, 2001

The Florida Panthers and Carolina Hurricanes finished the season series with a 2-2 tie at National Car Rental Center...

The first period of play was an exciting one as both teams hit the ice with an abundance of energy and intensity... The Panthers would be the ones to get things going early on when a second effort by Greg Adams paid off in a big way. Olli Jokinen started the play with a forward feed to Scott Mellanby. "Mell" found Greg Adams with a perfect pass and Greg drove to the net getting a shot on Irbe. His first shot didn't go in but his second one sure did as he picked up the loose puck from the side of the net. The teams would play scoreless hockey for the rest of the period due to some solid play by both Irbe and Kidd. Late in the opening period, the Cats had some superb chances, but none better than the one that the 'Canes got with 4:05 remaining. Martin Gelinas thought he had a sure thing, but as he drove in on the Panthers net, Trevor Kidd kicked the right pad out knocking the puck to the corner. The save was a beauty and was the reason that Florida carried the lead into the first intermission.

The second period, for the most part, belonged to the Hurricanes... They took the play to the Panthers outshooting them 16-6, out-muscling them in the face-off circle and in the end, outscoring them 1-0. The Carolina goal came on the power play (4-on-3) at 9:07. Jeff O'Neill drove to the Panthers net and connected on Tanabe's rebound from the edge of the left face-off circle. The Panthers came to life in the last four minutes of the period getting a few chances on Irbe but he was ready for them all and shut the door.

The third period began much the same as the first with an energized effort from both teams... Trevor Kidd was outstanding during this twenty minutes making another highlight save with just over 16 minutes left as he stacked the pads on Josef Vasicek from in close. The Hurricanes (or more specifically Jeff O'Neill) proved to be too much for the Cats at 7:25 when they netted the go-ahead goal off a deflection. O'Neill's shot from the left boards careened off a Panther stick and changed direction before reaching Kidd giving him his second of the night. Florida had some chances late in the third but it wasn't until they were within the final minute of play that they got the equalizer. After some hard work to get the puck in deep, the Panthers were finally able to get an extra attacker on in place of Trevor Kidd. The play began at the blueline with Anders Eriksson's shot on net. The puck deflected right to the stick of Pavel Bure at the side of the net, and just like that, the game was tied two-all (with just 23 seconds left).

The overtime session proved fruitless as neither team would get the game-winner but it sure was fun to watch... Trevor Kidd loomed large with 2:16 left coming out of his net to challenge a Hurricane shooter, and at the other end, Irbe got a little help from the skate of a teammate deflecting Rob Niedermayer's shot from close range. Who else but Jeff O'Neill could initiate the final highlight play of the night? As he cruised in on a near-breakaway, Pavel Bure raced back to make the defensive play stripping him of a potential hat trick.

The three stars of tonight's game as selected by Denis Potvin were: Trevor Kidd (3rd star), Pavel Bure (2nd star) and Jeff O'Neill (1st star).

The Panthers will move on from here to face the Philadelphia Flyers at NCRC tomorrow night... Game time is 7:30 pm - don't miss it!

****

Post-Game Coach's Comments

On the Panthers coming back to tie the game:
"It was a hell of a tie. When is the last time we came back for a tie? It was a hell of a tie."

On the decision to go with three and four forwards in overtime:
"I wasn't 100% sure of my decision, so I called upstairs and asked Chuck Fletcher. I wanted to make sure. I wanted to go with at least three forwards and then I thought 'what the hell? Go for it.' We've talked before behind closed doors about whether it's a division game or an out-of-conference game. We were in Anaheim when I used Pavel on the point - an out-of-conference game. There was a lot on the line tonight and I wanted to make sure I didn't screw up. I wanted to make sure I was making the right decision."

On unlucky bounces leading to Carolina goals:
"Unbelievable. Both of the bounces were bad bounces. The fifth goal the other night on Francis' goal was a redirection. We had a couple breakdowns before the bad bounces but still, overall, in the past we would have possibly not found a way to come back. Anytime you get a bad bounce or face a little bit of adversity, we've had trouble coming back from situations like that and I think we responded very well tonight."

On playing with emotion:
"We played really well. The key is emotion and high energy and play to win, not with fear. Anytime you play with fear you're going to be kind of on your heels. That's what happened in the second period. The first shift they had one or two really good chances down low and we kind of swallowed hard and maybe played with a little bit of fear instead of playing to win. We were still all right. We were still leading 1-0."

On the play of Yan Golubovsky, who made his Panthers debut tonight:
"I have to watch the tape but overall I think he played quite well. Obviously you'd like to see a little more aggression out of the kid but he is what he is. He moves the puck well. He's got good speed. He joins the play. I would like to see him shoot the puck more."

On when the defensemen should pinch in during the last eight minutes:
"With eight minutes left we said our third forward has to be responsible and if the 'D' can pinch, then pinch. But the first thing you do when you pinch is look for your third man. We didn't want to give up an odd-man rush. Give yourself a good chance if you're going to pinch. You don't pinch if you don't see the third man."

On Trevor Kidd's play in the Panthers goal:
"He was big. He responded to the challenge that was laid out for him and he certainly came through. The other guy made a few big saves too."

----Back to Headline List----

Carolina 2, Florida 2 (ot)
- - Yahoo.com
January 12, 2001

SUNRISE, FLORIDA -- Third-period rallies have been few and far between this season for the Florida Panthers. But Pavel Bure scored with 23 seconds left in regulation to salvage a 2-2 tie with the surging Carolina Hurricanes.

Florida pulled goaltender Trevor Kidd for an extra attacker in the final minute and got the equalizer when Anders Eriksson's point shot was deflected to the right goalpost, where Bure tapped the puck past goalie Arturs Irbe for his 23rd goal.

Moments earlier, Kidd stopped a 2-on-1 and got lucky when the rebound was shot over the net.

Carolina had a 3-1 edge in shots and the better scoring chances in overtime. But Kidd smothered a soft deflection by Martin Gelinas just over a minute in and made a sliding stop on Ron Francis' wrist shot from the left faceoff circle with 2:17 remaining.

Jeff O'Neill scored both goals for the Hurricanes, whose season-high unbeaten streak reached six games (4-0-2-0). Carolina took the season series, 2-1-2-0.

Greg Adams also tallied for Florida, which is 2-3-1-1 since Duane Sutter replaced Terry Murray as coach on December 28.

Pavel was even for the game and had 4 shots on goal.

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Pavel photo in ESPN magazine
- -January 8 edition of ESPN magazine
January 10, 2001

It's nice to know that Pavel Bure has a talent beyond skating and scoring. The Russian Rocket, who has 18 goals on the season, goes top shelf while taking a break during the Panthers' 3-2 loss to the Sabres on Dec. 16.

Even with Bure, the last-placed Panthers' offence is gummed up -- they're 27th in the league in scoring -- so Florida GM Bryan Murray may have to burst the bubble of his coach, who also happens to be his brother, terry Murray. Talk about a sticky situation.

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Post Game Summary - Florida vs Carolina
- - FloridaPanthers.com
January 9, 2001

The Florida Panthers will have some extra motivation for Friday's game after getting beaten up by the Carolina Hurricanes tonight by a score of 7-3.

The Hurricanes wasted no time getting this one underway as they combined for four goals in the opening period of play - the first at 7:12. The goal came on the power play as Glen Wesley's innocent shot from the right boards found the back of the net. Jakopin and Willis were crossing in front of Kidd when the shot was launched so he didn't even see it coming. Carolina came back just over three minutes later when the Panthers turned the puck over at their own blue line. Martin Gelinas picked it up and made a cross-ice pass to Shane Willis who was cruising into the high slot. Willis tucked it around Kidd's left pad for his ninth of the season. On the 'Canes third goal, rookie Lance Ward was victimized along the boards by Rob DiMaio creating a 2-on-1. Kidd was chased from the nets after this goal bringing in Roberto Luongo... He was tested immediately but did not let anything in until the 15:39 mark when another turnover created a 2-on-1. Tommy Westlund's shot from the right hash marks beat Luongo cleanly.

The Cats fared a little better in the second period as they were able to net a couple of their own to match up with the two that the Hurricanes scored. Carolina went first just 1:47 in when Rod Brind'Amour got a step on the Panthers coming into the Florida end. He faked a shot and then went around the left leg of Roberto Luongo who had gone down. The Panthers scored their first goal, on a 4-on-3 power play, when Ray Whitney one-timed a pass from Dan Boyle to beat Irbe top-shelf. When Mike Sillinger was sent off for a double minor mid-way through the period, the 'Canes connected just after the start of the second penalty when Ron Francis deflected a shot from the point. David Tanabe's shot went wide-left and somehow hit Francis, giving Luongo no chance. Mike Sillinger netted the Panthers second goal, with one minute left in the period, from the right hash marks off a feed from Whitney behind the net.

The Panthers put some pressure on their hosts in the third getting the opening goal at 3:32. Pavel Bure let go from the top of the left circle, and with Irbe way out of the net, it sailed by him. Carolina knocked the wind out of the Panthers' sails just under three minutes later when they stretched their lead back to four and sent the Cats packing... Gelinas tallied the final goal on the backhand from the edge of the crease.

As one might expect (given the lop-sided score), the game had its share of chippiness setting the stage for Game Two of the series on Friday. A total of 76 penalty minutes were handed out including 30 for fighting (Payer/DiMaio, Nilson/Tanabe and Worrell/Langdon).

The three stars of the game were: Glen Wesley (3rd star), Rod Brind'Amour (2nd star) and Rob DiMaio (1st star).

Friday's game is set for 7:30 pm at National Car Rental Center

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Carolina 7, Florida 3
- - Yahoo.com
January 9, 2001

RALEIGH, NORTH CAROLINA --- The Hurricanes exploded for four goals in the first period and matched the longest home unbeaten streak in franchise history with a 7-3 rout of the Florida Panthers.

Rob DiMaio collected a goal and two assists for Carolina, which also extended its season-high unbeaten streak to five games (4-0-1-0) while establishing its best offensive output of the campaign.

Ray Whitney and Pavel Bure had a goal and an assist for the Panthers, who fell to 2-3-0-1 since Duane Sutter replaced Terry Murray as coach on December 28.

With Panthers enforcer Peter Worrell in the penalty box for boarding, Carolina broke on top at 7:19 of the first period. Wesley skated down the right boards and into the faceoff circle, where he beat former Hurricane Trevor Kidd with a wrist shot for his second goal.

Rookie Shane Willis helped the Hurricanes extend the lead just over three minutes later, taking a cross-ice pass from Martin Gelinas and tapping the puck by Kidd for his ninth goal.

Kidd's night came to an end with 7:49 left in the opening period after DiMaio scored fifth goal of the season on a wrister from the right circle. Kidd allowed three goals on seven shots and was replaced by Roberto Luongo.

Tommy Westlund scored with 4:21 left to cap the Hurricanes' biggest first period since March 1.

The second period also got off to a rough start for the Panthers after Rod Brind'Amour scored his eighth goal on a breakaway at 1:47. He has four goals in the last two games.

Whitney scored his eighth goal on the power play to get Florida on the board, but Ron Francis answered with his eighth on the power play for Carolina, making it 6-1 with 10:32 left in the period.

"It was a nice effort by us. I think we knew it was going to be tough for them, just coming off the West Coast trip," Francis said. "We just wanted to make sure that we played well early and fortunately, we were able to do that."

Mike Sillinger scored his eighth of the season with a minute left in the second and Pavel Bure added his 22nd early in the third, pulling the Panthers within 6-3.

"The first period was obviously a really bad start for us," Bure said. "It's really tough to stay focused in the game when you're down like that. After that, we started playing hard and gave a greater effort."

Pavel Bure was even in the plus minus column on his goal and assist, and registered 3 shots on goal.

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Bure: clutch, but chippy
Analysis of scoring, penalties reveals Panthers' shortcomings
by David J Neal - - Miami Herald
January 7, 2001

SAN JOSE, Calif. -- Right wing Pavel Bure is one of the Panthers' chippiest players. Captain Scott Mellanby is the player most likely to take a minor penalty just when Florida can't afford to be short-handed. Aside from Bure, no Panther has scored more than five clutch goals this season.

That's what a breakdown of scoring and penalties indicated before Saturday night's game against the Sharks, which marks the halfway point of Florida's season.

Sometimes figures lie. Most of the time, however, they serve as an accurate reflection of the truth.

Coaches hate to see penalties taken any time, but especially when there's a two-goal margin in a game. If a team is down by two, it risks being taken completely out of the game. If a team is up by two, it risks letting the opposition back in it.

Last year, the Panthers took few penalties when there was a two-goal margin. But a lack of discipline is apparent this year.

Florida has taken 34 minors when leading or trailing by two. Mellanby leads with six -- 60 percent of his minors when the game was in doubt (neither team leading by more than one goal). Ray Whitney's three are 42.9 percent of his total. Rob Niedermayer's four are 33.3 percent of his total. Bure's four are 30.8 of his total, and Robert Svehla's three are 27.2 percent of his.

Bure, when frustrated or annoyed by what he feels is overly physical play against him, has had a tendency throughout his career to lash out with a stick or an elbow. The Panthers (8-19-7-6 entering Saturday's game) have been losing, Bure has blown prime scoring chances, and opponents aren't hesitating to give him something extra to get upset about.

The result? Bure is second on the team in chippy penalties -- injurious fouls such as high-sticking, elbowing, cross-checking, boarding and spearing. Bure's 12 chippy minors ties defenseman Todd Simpson (injured since Dec. 4) for second on the team behind bruiser Peter Worrell's 23.

If a player is consistently in the box when the opposing team scores on the power play, one can surmise that either he takes a lot of penalties or he's important to the penalty kill. That explains why Worrell and Niedermayer are tied for the team lead for occupying the box during opposing power-play goals (four).

The clutch-goal statistic supports the argument that center Mike Sillinger's broken foot, which cost him 12 games, has been the Panthers' most damaging injury.

Bure leads Florida in clutch goals -- tallies that tie the score or put the scorer's team in the lead -- with 13. Despite missing those 12 games, Sillinger is second with five. Niedermayer is third with four.

Whitney, who had seven tying goals at the mid-point last season, has just one this season.

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Post Game Summary - Florida vs San Jose
- - FloridaPanthers.com
January 6, 2001

Tonight's "battle of the Sutters" went to older brother Darryl as the San Jose Sharks downed the Florida Panthers by a score of 3-1...

The teams played a free-wheeling first period with plenty of action at both ends of the ice, but when all was said and done, the Sharks walked into the locker room after twenty minutes of play with a one-goal lead... Owen Nolan recorded his first of the night at 8:27 driving into the right face-off circle and going top-shelf on Trevor Kidd. The play came off a turnover in the Florida end when Jeff Friesen picked the pocket of Lance Pitlick.

The Sharks would tag the Panthers for two more in the second period as Florida fell victim to costly turnovers... Nolan got his second of the night at 3:39 from the left circle on the power play. His line was deep into the man advantage but with continuous action in the offensive zone, they could not make their line change. It looked like the hat trick goal was on Nolan's stick five-minutes later when he broke in on Trevor Kidd with his team on the penalty-kill, but Kidder had him all the way making the big save. Jeff Friesen got his eighth of the season at 10:10 off a dandy back-hand pass from Bryan Marchment. His shot from the right hash marks beat Kidd cleanly giving the Sharks a three-goal lead going into their (typically) strongest period of play.

The Cats were not only able to hold the Sharks at bay, but they were able to foil their shutout bid in the third as well... Trevor Kidd had an outstanding period of play making 14 saves on the high-powered offense of San Jose. The Panthers notched their only score of the night at 16:11 as Mike Sillinger picked up a loose puck in the neutral zone and let go beating Steve Shields five-hole. The goal energized the Cats and they were able to get some quality shots on Shields in the dying minutes. Trevor Kidd made several key plays late in the game but none more important than in the final minute. As he was headed to the bench for an extra attacker, a turnover in the San Jose end sent Damphousse and Nolan breaking for the Panthers net. Kidd had to hustle back into place and made a sprawling save to boot.

The three stars of the game were: Bryan Marchment (3rd star), Steve Shields (2nd star) and Owen Nolan (1st star).

The Cats will return to the East Coast tomorrow but will go straight to North Carolina to prepare for their match against the Hurricanes on Tuesday.

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San Jose 3, Florida 1
- - Yahoo.com
January 6, 2001

SAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA -- Owen Nolan scored two goals and set up the other as the San Jose Sharks began a seven-game homestand with a 3-1 victory over the Florida Panthers.

Nolan collected his 12th and 13th goals of the season and assisted on Jeff Friesen's his eighth for the Sharks, who won for only the second time in their last six games (2-2-2-0). They also snapped a three-game home winless streak.

Steve Shields stopped 26 shots and claimed his first victory since November 28 against Minnesota. He came within 3:49 of his first shutout of the season before allowing Mike Sillinger's seventh goal.

"It's always nice to play, but I felt I deserved to play again," said Shields, who was making his second straight start. "It's nice to get in a rhythm. It's a lot easier to play when you've played a bit and I've got a little bit of confidence going. So it's good to be back there.

Due to a contract holdout and a sprained ankle, Shields has been regulated to backup status behind rookie Evgeni Nabokov, who is tied with Colorado's Patrick Roy for the league lead with 21 wins.

"Any team would love to have what we've got," Shields said. "I'm just starting to come back and get another opportunity to play and I've waited through the injury and through what Evgeny has done. And he's played great and I see no problems with what is going on right now. He's played outstanding. The competition can do nothing but make us better as individuals and we're going to both end up playing a lot. I like Evgeny, he's nice. And we get along fine."

Trevor Kidd made 36 saves for Florida, which fell to 1-1-0-1 on its four-game road trip. The Panthers are 1-20-6-6 when allowing more than one goal.

"We couldn't score," said Duane Sutter, who is 2-2-0-1 since replacing Terry Murray as Florida coach. "(The Sharks) played well and they are the fourth-best team in the league, points-wise. They're a fast team and they've got some offensive weapons. I can't dispute our effort at all."

Nolan's unassisted tally at 8:27 of the first period gave San Jose a 1-0 lead. He stole the puck from defenseman Lance Pitlick and put a backhander into the top of the net.

"I know it was a 2-on-none in front of the net and I dropped my stick to prevent a pass and Owen is a pretty gifted hockey player," Kidd said. "He made a great shot."

Early in the second period, Nolan completed his third multi-goal game of the season on the power play. Jim Montgomery fought off two Panthers to gain possession of the puck before Gary Suter sent a cross-ice pass to Nolan, who beat Kidd with a one-timer from the left faceoff circle.

"They are a quick team and they showed it," Kidd said. "They skate well, even the guys who don't have the puck. They caught us going cross-ice quite a bit. We could have changed things, but they scored their first goal on the power play and deflated us a little bit."

Friesen ended a 15-game goalless drought at 10:10 of the period, putting the puck in from the slot for his first goal since December 4.

"It was nice to get one," he said. "It was fun. We were cycling the puck well, getting chances, and it's nice to get a goal and get the monkey off my back. It was a big win for us. We hadn't played as good as we should at home. We played better tonight. We need a real good homestand. It's a real important stretch for us."

"He's been working for it and not getting rewarded for it. So I'm happy for him," Nolan added. "I'm glad to see him score and I expect him to keep going."

Shields appeared close to recording his ninth career shutout with San Jose, which would have tied him with Mike Vernon for the franchise record, when Sillinger converted a 2-on-1.

"Sillinger made a nice shot," Shields said. "I don't know how he got free for the 2-on-1, but he made a nice play and hit the corner. But it's no biggie, we wouldn't want to see that in a 1-0 game, allowing a 2-on-1, but we had a comfortable lead. Guys were not as focused as they would have been in a closer game, but that's OK."

Pavel regsitered two shots on goal (in the 3rd period), and was a plus one for the night.

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Post Game Summary - Florida vs Los Angeles
- - FloridaPanthers.com
January 4, 2001

The Florida Panthers came back from a one-goal deficit tonight to beat the Los Angeles Kings 4-3...

The Kings came out with some early speed and carried play to the Panthers for the first part of the opening period... By the 12:18 point of the period though, the Cats had turned the tide in their favor as they got the go-ahead tally. The initial shot was thrown on goal from between the face-off circles by Peter Worrell. Steve Passmore gave up a huge rebound on the shot and it found the stick of Olli Jokinen driving in to the same spot Worrell had unleashed from. The Kings wasted no time in drawing even as Glen Murray netted the tying goal at 16:13. Murray was camped at the edge of the Florida crease and when Smolinski's shot from the boards dribbled out to him, he put it away. In the final seconds of the period, both teams were victimized by a goal post to keep the score 1-1...

In just about every way, the second period belonged to the Kings... They took the lead in the game at 4:23 after some good puck movement by Ziggy Palffy and Jozef Stumpel along the right boards. Mathieu Schneider sailed in from the point to blast it by Kidd. With roughly thirteen minutes left in the period, John Jakopin made what could be called the play of the game tying Rob Blake up on a breakaway. Jako executed the play perfectly to avoid a penalty call while negating a "sure thing" for Blake. The Panthers got the equalizer inside the final minute of play (in the second period) as Ivan Novoseltsev found himself behind Steve Passmore in the LA crease. After some hard work by Novo and Rob Niedermayer to keep the puck in play behind the Kings' net, the puck was sent out to the point. John Jakopin put the one-timer on net and Ivan got his stick out to get it across the line. The real story at this point in the game though - Trevor Kidd. After 40 minutes of play, Kidder had already faced 37 shots on goal!

The third period was a an exciting one that saw the Cats nab two power play goals to turn the game around... The first came at 6:22 from Ray Whitney playing the point. The cross-ice feed from Boyle was tape-to-tape and Ray never took his eye off the net. The Kings had a goal waved off just seconds later as Bryan Smolinski had interfered with Kidd just after Blake let go of a shot from the point. Smolinski was called for the interference and the Cats went on the power play again. At 8:12, Viktor Kozlov would net the (eventual) game-winner off a feed from Rob Niedermayer after Rob's shooting lane was taken away by a King going down. Los Angeles mounted a comeback at 9:02 with Zigmund Palffy camped at the side of the net. Jozef Stumpel unleashed a shot from the point but instead of sending it on net, he fooled Trevor Kidd by planting it on the stick of Palffy. Kidd could not get back across in time leaving a portion of the net open for Ziggy. Late in the period, it looked as though the Kings might tie it up but defenseman Anders Eriksson made a heads up play to stop the puck from crossing the goal line after Kidd was beaten from the right face-off circle.

In the end, the Panthers netminder faced 49 shots securing him the unquestionable title of "star of the game".

The Panthers will head up the California coast to San Jose for a Saturday evening affair at "the Shark Tank". Game time is 10:30 pm...

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Florida 4, Los Angeles 3
- - Yahoo.com
January 4, 2001

LOS ANGELES -- Trevor Kidd was spectacular in making a season-high 46 saves and Ray Whitney and Viktor Kozlov scored power-play goals in the third period as the Florida Panthers held on for a 4-3 victory over the Los Angeles Kings.

Florida avoided its third straight loss and won for the first time this season (1-19-6-6) when allowing more than one goal in a game. The Panthers have split the first two games of a four-game road trip.

Kidd bounced back from one of his worst losses of the season. On Wednesday, he allowed two third-period goals and an overtime tally in a 3-2 loss at Anaheim. But he made 14 saves in the first period, 21 in the second and 11 over the final 20 minutes for his sixth win of the season.

Whitney broke a 2-2 tie 6:22 into the third period with his seventh goal of the season. With newly signed King Marko Tuomainen off for holding, Whitney took a short pass from defenseman Dan Boyle at the top of the slot before firing a shot past goaltender Steve Passmore.

Los Angeles scored the apparent tying goal seconds later, but defenseman Rob Blake's tally was nullified when teammate Bryan Smolinski interfered with Kidd.

In the waning moments of the ensuing power play, Kozlov found himself alone at the edge of the slot and one-timed Rob Niedermayer's feed from the right side into the left side of the net for his second goal.

Los Angeles halved the deficit with 10:58 left when Ziggy Palffy redirected Jozef Stumpel's point shot past Kidd. But minutes later, Palffy was stoned on a one-timer at the right side of the crease and the rebound attempt.

Pavel was credited with one shot on goal, and was even in the plus minus column.

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Pavel still a starting winger in All-Star game
- - NHL.com
January 4, 2001

World All-Stars
Player (country)	NHL Club	Votes
Wings
Jaromir Jagr (CZE)	Pittsburgh	204,582
Pavel Bure (RUS)	Florida	105,571
Teemu Selanne (FIN)	Anaheim	90,380
Zigmund Palffy (SLO)	Los Angeles	87,630
Milan Hejduk (CZE)	Colorado	74,597
Marian Hossa (SLO)	Ottawa	50,979
Jere Lehtinen (FIN)	Dallas	46,466
Markus Naslund (SWE)	Vancouver	39,384
Patrik Elias (CZE)	New Jersey	38,478
Petr Sykora (CZE)	New Jersey	34,543
Miroslav Satan (SLO)	Buffalo	33,353
Pavol Demitra (SLO)	St. Louis	31,593
Valeri Bure (RUS)	Calgary	30,580
Sergei Berezin (RUS)	Toronto	28,370
Daniel Alfredsson (SWE)	Ottawa	22,225
Mariusz Czerkawski (POL)	NY Islanders	16,601
Sergei Krivokrasov (RUS)	Minnesota	13,167
Sami Kapanen (FIN)	Carolina	12,762
Goaltenders
Dominik Hasek (CZE)	Buffalo	152,831
Tommy Salo (SWE)	Edmonton	101,872
Roman Turek (CZE)	St. Louis	100,851
Olaf Kolzig (GER)	Washington	66,095
Arturs Irbe (LAT)	Carolina	46,750
Centers
Peter Forsberg (SWE)	Colorado	153,725
Sergei Fedorov (RUS)	Detroit	71,679
Mats Sundin (SWE)	Toronto	61,315
Alexei Kovalev (RUS)	Pittsburgh	36,279
Bobby Holik (CZE)	New Jersey	24,991
Radek Bonk (CZE)	Ottawa	23,768
Petr Nedved (CZE)	NY Rangers	18,754
Michal Handzus (SLO)	St. Louis	18,476
Alexei Yashin (RUS)	Ottawa	18,174
Martin Straka (CZE)	Pittsburgh	15,817
Alexei Zhamnov (RUS)	Chicago	12,856
Viktor Kozlov (RUS)	Florida	12,105
Saku Koivu (FIN)	Montreal	12,007
Patrik Stefan (CZE)	Atlanta	8,268
Defensemen
Nicklas Lidstrom (SWE)	Detroit	168,876
Sandis Ozolinsh (LAT)	Carolina	116,565
Sergei Zubov (RUS)	Dallas	114,486
Darius Kasparaitis (RUS)	Pittsburgh	73,462
Roman Hamrlik (CZE)	NY Islanders	61,503
Teppo Numminen (FIN)	Phoenix	51,955
Dimitri Yushkevich (RUS)	Toronto	50,736
Mattias Ohlund (SWE)	Vancouver	44,804
Jiri Slegr (CZE)	Pittsburgh	44,012
Oleg Tverdovsky (RUS)	Anaheim	42,974
Tomas Kaberle (CZE)	Toronto	40,649
Jyrki Lumme (FIN)	Phoenix	30,274
Kenny Jonsson (SWE)	NY Islanders	25,034
Robert Svehla (SLO)	Florida	19,211
Boris Mironov (RUS)	Chicago	17,770
Jaroslav Spacek (CZE)	Chicago	14,486

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Panthers' woes continue in Anaheim
by Michael Russo - - Sun-Sentinel
January 4, 2001

ANAHEIM, Calif. - Usually it doesn't take much for the fragile Panthers to crumble into pieces. Wednesday night, it took a lot.

The Panthers seemed to do everything in their power to blow their two-goal lead against the Anaheim Mighty Ducks in the third period. They were successful at it as Teemu Selanne and German Titov scored two goals in 1:07, and Petr Tenkrat scored the winner in overtime, as the Ducks rallied for a 3-2 win.

The Panthers seemed to be pinned in their zone the entire third period as Anaheim outshot them 18-7. For a 19-minute stretch from midway through the second to midway through the third, the consistently-undisciplined Panthers took seven of the game's eight penalties.

It was on the last one by Scott Mellanby that Anaheim finally converted on a power play. A puck deflected to Selanne, who scored his first goal since Nov. 22.

Then, 67 seconds later, Lance Pitlick decided to step up in the neutral zone and try to hit Titov with an open-ice hit. Titov wound up bouncing off the check -- while Pitlick fell to the ice -- and scored off a 2-on-1 for the equalizer at 14:11.

Tenkrat scored the winner with 58.9 seconds left in overtime.

The Panthers got a scare early in the third when Pavel Bure left the ice grimacing after his twice-operated-on right knee was struck by Jim Cummins' knee.

But Bure returned for his next shift.

Both teams couldn't get anything going in a sluggish and hard-to-watch first period, but the Panthers got goals by Rob Niedermayer and Bure to take a 2-0 lead into the third.

On an aggressive forecheck early in the second, Scott Mellanby, standing behind the net, found Ray Whitney in the slot. Whitney dished to a wide-open Niedermayer, standing in front of goalie Dominic Roussel.

Niedermayer delayed his shot, got Roussel to commit and fall to the ice and then fired it over top for his fifth goal 1:58 into the second. Whitney extended his point streak to five games with the assist.

Three shifts later, Bure made it 2-0 after Roussel fell after playing a puck behind the net. Greg Adams centered to Bure, who back-handed it through a sprawling Roussel for his 21st goal and one of the more easy ones he's had.

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Panthers blow 2-0 lead, fall in OT
Niedermayer, Bure get goals
by David J Neal - - Miami Herald
January 4, 2001

ANAHEIM, Cal. -- Wendesday, the moribund Panthers came from ahead to lose another one, 3-2, in overtime to Anaheim after taking a 2-0 lead into the third period.

Panthers goalie Trevor Kidd, who consistently plays the puck onto the stick of an opposing player, wheeled a loose puck around the left boards. Anaheim's Petr Tenkrat picked up the puck, circumnavigated the zone until he got to the right circle, when he roofed a shot with 58.9 seconds left in overtime.

About the only thing you could say for Wednesday's game between last-place, 1993 expansion teams, the Panthers and Anaheim, was that each scored as much in 60 minutes of hockey as Florida State did in 60 minutes of college football.

A half-empty arena with the home team being booed as they maladroitly bumbled through another game, the Arrowhead Pond was just a few "Fire Murray" chants from being National Car Rental Center most of this season. The official attendance was 11,396, the fourth worst in Ducks history, all of which have been this season.

The Panthers entered the third period up 2-0, but in the midst of giving up seven of eight power plays.

Two minutes into the third period, Anaheim's Jim Cummings clipped Panthers right wing Pavel Bure's right knee with his own protruding knee. Bure dropped, then went off the ice slowly. Florida's Peter Worrell came onto the ice and was called for roughing after addressing Cummings. Meanwhile, Greg Adams was called for tripping.

Florida killed the first 1:12 of the five-on-three with a strong clear. Then Marty McInnis was called for tripping Florida's Olli Jokinen.

Kidd lost his shutout with 6:56 remaining on a power play goal by Anaheim's Teemu Selanne, his first goal in 14 games he's dressed since Nov. 22. Anaheim was on the power play after Selanne hooked Scott Mellanby like a grouper with impunity, Mellanby whipped Selanne to the ice by his head.

So, the Panthers were up 2-1 . . . for 1:07. Anaheim's Petr Tenkrat, while being spun by Anders Eriksson, centered off the skate of Panthers center Rob Niedermayer. German Titov barged into the slot to sweep it home to tie the game.

After a clumsily played first period, it was apparent early grasp would go to whichever team made the first good offensive play of the evening. It was the Panthers, when defenseman Peter Ratchuk kept in a hard-around at the left point.

Ratchuk rapped the puck back around to Mellanby behind the net. Mellanby gave it to Ray Whitney in the left circle. As both Anaheim defensemen, Mike Crowley and Ruslan Salei, reacted toward Whitney, Niedermayer tipped between them over to the slo t and fed Niedermayer.

Niedermayer cocked and waited. And waited. And waited. Anaheim goalie Dominic Roussel seemed to decide the best defense was throwing himself on the mercy of Niedermayer by going prone. Niedermayer fired a wrister into the top shelf so hard, it got stuck there. Florida was up, 1-0 at 1:58 of the second.

How to follow up such a stout show of netminding? With a Homer Simpson impersonation, of course. And Roussel gave a performance worth a thousand "Doh's!"

Roussel stopped a dump-in to the right rear of the Anaheim goal, then handed it to Adams (Doh!). Then, Roussel stumbled trying to back in the goalmouth (Doh!). Meanwhile, Adams centered to Bure, who took so much time with his backhander it actually wound up going five-hole as Roussel slid back into the goal feet first.

That gave the Panthers a 2-0 lead on its first two shots of the second period.

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Anaheim 3, Florida 2 (ot)
- - Yahoo.com
January 3, 2001

ANAHEIM, CALIFORNIA -- The Florida Panthers continue to find new ways to lose.

Teemu Selanne and German Titov scored 67 seconds apart in the third period before rookie Petr Tenkrat tallied with 59 seconds left in overtime to give the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim a 3-2 victory over the reeling Panthers.

Anaheim snapped a six-game winless drought (0-3-1-2) and improved to 3-3-1-2 since Guy Charron replaced Craig Hartsburg as coach. Florida is 0-19-6-6 when surrendering at least one goal.

The Ducks just had 11 shots and trailed 2-0 entering the third period, but finally got a break when Scott Mellanby was penalized for holding with 8:21 left.

Late in the power play, Anaheim's Marty McInnis fired a shot from the left point that deflected off a Florida player and to Selanne at the left side of the crease. Selanne then ripped a sharp-angle shot past goaltender Trevor Kidd, snapping a 14-game goalless drought.

"It's a big relief," Selanne said. "It's huge. I had a couple of chances that didn't go in. I never stopped believing. I had a pretty good feeling tonight."

With momentum back on its side, Anaheim quickly tied the game. Tenkrat gathered the puck and swooped around a Panthers defenseman and headed up the left side before attempting a centering pass. The puck glanced off a skate to Titov, who banged it in from the slot for his sixth goal of the season.

Tenkrat missed a shot during a 3-on-1 break and also committed a penalty during the third period, but made amends late in overtime. He took a shot from the right side that was gloved by Kidd and swept behind the net.

But Tenkrat followed up and collected the puck along the left boards. He skated to the high slot, warded off a defender and headed up the right side before roofing a shot over Kidd for his fourth goal of the season.

"I was trying to score on the first one," Tenkrat said through an interpreter. "I didn't expect the goalie to play it out like that. I was surprised no one went after me. I was open and just tried to make another shot. I aimed for the upper corner."

Rob Niedermayer and Pavel Bure scored for the Panthers, who have two wins in their last 18 games (2-11-3-2) and the fewest points in the NHL.

"When you're up, 2-0, you have to close out games like that," Niedermayer said. "We let them get back into the game and that killed us. This is a big road trip for us. We really need to play well and get some points."

Charron ripped into his players after the second period not only for its lack of effort but for finger pointing.

"There was a lot of frustration," Charron said. "The team was chirping after the second period, pointing out what other guys weren't doing. I wanted them to play as a team so I flung a few water bottles around."

Anaheim had a chance to cut into the lead early in the third period when it had a 5-on-3 power play for two minutes. But Kidd stopped defenseman Oleg Tverdovsky's blast from the left point before McInnis took a tripping penalty.

"After we killed the 5-on-3, we were still in control," Florida coach Duane Sutter said. "Then we got into penalty trouble and some bounces went their way. When it was 2-0, Jokinen gets a breakaway and (Ducks goaltender Dominic) Roussel makes a great save. It's a 3-0 lead, game over."

Kidd made 28 saves but fell to 5-13-5.

Pavel registered 3 shots on goal, and was even despite scorong an even strength goal.

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Post Game Summary - Florida vs Anaheim
- - FloridaPanthers.com
January 3, 2001

Despite carrying a two-goal lead into the third period, the Florida Panthers dropped a heartbreaker to the Mighty Ducks, 3-2, in overtime.

Tonight's game got under way with plenty of energy from both teams. With relatively few stoppages in play in the first half of the opening period, there was terrific flow making for some exciting hockey. Anaheim netminder Dominic Roussel was outstanding in the first robbing Pavel Bure and Ray Whitney on scoring opportunities early on. At the other end, Trevor Kidd was equally as impressive but got a little help from his goal post with just over three minutes left in the period to keep the Ducks off the board. At the end of twenty minutes, the teams would head to the locker rooms in a scoreless tie.

The Cats jumped out to a lead early in the second period as a defensive breakdown by Anaheim left Rob Niedermayer all alone at the top of the crease. Ray Whitney got the play going as he drew two Anaheim defenders behind the net with him. His feed to Niedermayer was perfect and Rob had about a day and a half to plant his shot going top-shelf on Roussel. Just under three minutes later, the Panthers doubled their lead on a play that looked very similar to their first goal. This time, it was Greg Adams feeding Pavel Bure, but with Dominic Roussel caught out of position, Bure was left with a wide-open net to shoot into. Bure's backhand from the high slot earned him his 21st goal of the season. The Cats came close on a couple shorthanded opportunities later on as both Niedermayer and Mike Sillinger were turned away on the same (Nilson) call, but Roussel stood his ground keeping his team within reach.

The Ducks began the third period on a power play and although they would not get anything past Trevor Kidd on that advantage, it effectively began their comeback... They played a very aggressive third period outshooting the Panthers 18 to 7, but Florida didn't make it any harder for them handing a total of eight minutes of power play time to the host team. The Cats held them at bay until 13:04 when Teemu Selanne connected on the power play from a sharp angle. The initial shot was made by Marty McInnis from the point but the puck deflected off the stick of Pavel Bure right onto the stick of Selanne. Just over one minute later, the Ducks converted again to draw even at two-all. With a Panther defender draped all over him, Petr Tenkrat found German Titov dealing in from the blueline and Titov buried his shot from between the face-off circles.

The teams headed to overtime and it was clear that both were playing for the win... Anaheim made good on their effort at 4:01 when Petr Tenkrat cycled his way through the Florida zone and went high on Trevor Kidd. Kudos to Tenkrat on a beautiful individual effort...

The three stars of the game were: Ray Whitney (3rd star), Oleg Tverdovsky (2nd star) and Petr Tenkrat (1st star).

The Panthers continue their west coast swing tomorrow night in Los Angeles. Game time is 10:30 pm (eastern).

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Bure-Sutter union may just work
by Eric Duhatschek - - Globe and Mail
January 3, 2001

First things first.

Duane Sutter is not the same person as his brother Darryl or his other brother Brian; and Pavel Bure is not the same person as his brother Valeri.

Still, on the day after the housecleaning in Florida, in which the Panthers fired coach Terry Murray and replaced him with Duane Sutter, the phone lines between the respective siblings were buzzing. Brian talked to Duane, providing him with a primer on how to coach a Bure. In the meantime, Valeri was on the line with Pavel, to give him a sense of what life with the Sutters would be like.

On paper, the Bure-Sutter relationship looks like a combustible mix, two completely different personalities who could potentially be at war in a fortnight. After all, Duane Sutter was known as Dog during his playing days for a reason. He worked the trenches on the New York Islanders' four Stanley Cup-championship teams. As a player, Sutter was the antithesis of Pavel Bure, the moody, mercurial superstar who ultimately makes or breaks the Panthers' fortunes.

If the precedent that Brian Sutter established with Valeri Bure is any indication, however, the two may get along famously. Among their many other characteristics, the one commodity all the Sutters share is a well-honed survival instinct.

They are the ultimate pragmatists. After all those games and all those years, they understand that not all National Hockey League players are created equally and therefore, they are not all treated alike. The Sutter way revolves around work ethic - that hard work can cure whatever ails a hockey club. If a player works to Sutter's satisfaction, then that is all that's required of him.

For the two years that Owen Nolan's scoring touch deserted him, San Jose Sharks' coach Darryl Sutter constantly defended his player, appointing him team captain, constantly telling critics that as long as Nolan was getting the job done elsewhere, he could live with his reduced scoring totals. Nolan eventualy emerged from his funk last year to finish sixth in NHL scoring and is a on a point-a-game pace this year, after recovering from abdominal surgery.

Similarly, Brian Sutter put up with Theo Fleury's inconsistencies and Phil Housley's unwillingness to play the body and Val Bure's tendency to drift to the perimeter. He understood that if you lose your key players, you don't last long in the coaching dodge.

"The only thing I said to Duane was, you coach the type of players you've got," said Brian. "It's like the old rancher's saying: 'You ride the horse you're riding.' I've always believed in using people's strengths. You can't make people something they're not. But I also told him, 'he's your best player and your team's gonna be pulled by the lead horse.'"

Accordingly, on his second day on the job, Duane Sutter pulled Pavel Bure into his office and asked him to be more responsible defensively. Whenever things have gone sour for Bure in the past, he immediately developed a tendency to play high and hover in the neutral zone, waiting for the defencemen to work the puck up to him. And when it didn't happen, he would coast back to the bench, with a look of disgust on his face.

Apart from Robert Svehla, the Panthers are not blessed with many offensively skilled rearguards. So Bure was asked by Sutter to come back deeper into his own zone to get into better position for his defencemen. And if Bure is prepared to do that, then he will receive all the ice time he craves, something that he didn't get in the last days of the Terry Murray regime.

Murray understandably became frustrated with Bure's unwillingness to play in both ends of the ice and eventually cut his minutes back. Instead of motivating Bure, it had the opposite effect. Bure waltzed through his final pre-Murray games with the Panthers, waiting for the slaughter that inevitably followed.

Brian Sutter's instructions to Valeri Bure, which resulted in the latter finishing 15th in the NHL in scoring last season, mirror those that his brother delivered to Pavel.

"I said to Val, 'Every rush is going to be a power-play rush for you. Come back into the zone, get the puck, come hard with it and don't stop until you're right in front of the other team's net,'" Sutter said. "Sometimes, Pavel gets into a thing where he gets too far in front of the play. He used to do that at the end in Vancouver and as a result, he was easy to play against.

"Look at the goals Mario [Lemieux] scores. He always hits the late guy coming in. The best players do it all the time. Duane played with guys like Mike Bossy. I'm not saying they were as tempermental maybe as Pavel, but he understands them.

"Most of the time, it's not complicated. You tell them, 'If you want to be the lead horse, everybody's got to run to your speed.' You make people responsible to themselves. Everybody craves that. It's just a matter of pushing the right buttons."

Valeri Bure, for one, believes the marriage will work.

"It's pretty easy to get along with my brother. He'll put the puck in for you. What else do you want? I don't think it's going to be any problem. My brother got along with a lot of guys."

Bure paused, to set up the punch line.

"He got along with Mike Keenan. Everybody was saying it's hard to get along with Keenan, but everything worked out there."

Proving, presumably, that hockey, like politics, sometimes makes for strange bedfollows.

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Bure's performance bears watching under new coach
by Larry Wigge - - The Sporting News
January 2, 2001

All eyes will be on right winger Pavel Bure as he plays under new coach Duane Sutter. Bure clearly was not enamored with the dump-and-chase style of former coach Terry Murray. And the Sutter way of coaching generally leans more toward hard work than skill. A seed of doubt was planted in Bure's head by center Igor Larionov, who finally became so frustrated in Florida by the style of play and his ice time that he agreed to waive a no-trade clause in his contract and went back to Detroit for defenseman Yan Golubovsky. Larionov was expected to be a positive influence in the dressing room. He turned out to be a distraction, constantly arguing with Murray.

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