News from November 1999

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Another Book report

If you blink, Pavel Bure is gone. That's always been the rule with the Russian Rocket since he arrived in the National Hockey League with the Vancouver Canucks in November 1991. Renowned for his one-step acceleration, dazzling stickhandling, and ability to bring even jaded sportswriters to their feet, Bure has led an equally "fast" existence off the ice. And Kerry Banks is the first author to provide a book-length exploration of the mysteries surrounding the 28-year-old superstar who was finally traded to the Florida Panthers last January after holding out on the Canucks for months.

Pavel Bure: The Riddle of the Russian Rocket begins on an ominous note, as its preface discusses the reluctance of many former teammates, coaches and hockey journalists to discuss Bure's life with Banks. Whether this reticence stems from a desire to protect Bure's privacy, mere indifference, or concerns for personal safety is unclear. Recent TV documentaries on PBS and CBC's The Fifth Estate have alleged ties between Bure and the Russian Mafia, also pointing the finger at New York Rangers forward Valeri Kamensky and New Jersey Devils assistant coach Viacheslav Fetisov.

But while the book questions the wisdom of Bure's choice in off-ice associates, it does not dwell on this issue at the expense of chronicling his hockey exploits. From Bure's childhood, when his father wanted him to become an Olympic swimmer, to his adolescent flowering with the Soviet national junior team, the Rocket's launch toward stardom is thoroughly analyzed. Banks has apparently tracked down every report published on Bure during his career in Vancouver. He brings his reader details of such little-known incidents as Pavel's first encounter with Wayne Gretzky and Paul Coffey during a junior tour of Canada, or his purchase of a new Lada after the 1990 world championships.

Banks' elegantly crafted prose captures the magic of Bure's first three years in Vancouver, those for which he is most fondly remembered on the West Coast. Highlights include Bure's Calder Trophy-winning debut alongside Igor Larionov; his back-to-back 60-goal seasons; and his run to the 1994 Stanley Cup finals with the Canucks, where he cashed in on opposing netminders 17 times, just two shy of the playoff record shared by Reggie Leach and Jari Kurri.

Even for the hockey fan who is less enamored of Bure than, say, Trevor Linden or Mark Messier, the book provides a comprehensive survey of the franchise's history in the 1990s. This in itself makes the book worth owning.

Bure has been dubbed a businessman on and off the ice, and the biography traces his eventual downfall in Vancouver to his signing of a $25 million U.S. contract after the Stanley Cup run. It's not so much that Bure's effort deteriorated after landing his big deal, Banks opines. But a combination of injuries and backroom struggles with Vancouver management sapped his desire to play for the Canucks. Which, of course, ultimately led to his acrimonious departure for Florida after too many messy seasons and coaching changes with his original team.

As noted before, much of Bure's life away from the rink remains shrouded in mystery. It's still not one hundred percent clear what the root of his refusal to play for the Canucks anymore was. Nor do we know the precise reason for Bure's severing of ties with his father and personal trainer Vladimir. However, excellent detective work by Banks has resulted in such tidbits as the tracking down of Bure's "first wife," an explanation of the Rocket's switch to number 96 before the 1995-96 campaign, and extra details on his Mafia connections.

One suspects questions will always linger. As he showed in his encounter with the media during his 5 November return to Vancouver with the Panthers, Bure simply doesn't want to shed light on anything he does outside playing hockey. But as Banks notes, "The sense of mystery that surrounds Bure's personality has only enhanced his allure." Pavel Bure: The Riddle of the Russian Rocket provides the best glimpse beyond Bure's veil of secrecy that you're ever likely to find.

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Another Book article

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Another day another goal

Pavel Bure scored a goal in tonight's 3-0 win over the Atlanta Thrashers.

Bure capped the scoring late in the second period with his ninth goal. Bret Hedican whipped a pass from the left point and Bure one-timed it inside the right goalpost.

He had five shots on goal in the game and was a plus one for the night.

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Questions about Russian mafia and players must end

Pavel Bure is one Russian NHL star suspected of having connections to Russian mobsters.

To many Russians, including those performing in the National Hockey League, the notion of organized crime in their country is laughable. In fact, the idea of anything being organized amid the chaos of monumental economic and social change is preposterous.

Yet some prominent Russian hockey players can't seem to skate past allegations of close and continuous associations with shadowy figures of what has become known, at least outside the former Soviet Union, as the Russian Mafia.

"What is this Russian Mafia?" asked Slava Fetisov, the New Jersey Devils assistant coach. "I never heard this term until I came to the U.S. and saw American movies."

Fetisov may be the best player ever produced in Russia, a former captain of the famed Soviet Red Army club who helped kick down the Iron Curtain and pave the way for Russians to seek their fortunes in North America's NHL. Even past his prime, he starred in New Jersey before helping Detroit win Stanley Cup titles in 1997 and 1998.

So powerful are his connections back home that some believe Fetisov could, like basketball's Bill Bradley, win a popular election to his country's highest office in a landslide -- with his friend Russian President Boris Yeltin's blessing.

Yet one of Fetisov's associations with a former business partner has come under scrutiny, as has a friendship Florida star Pavel Bure maintains with a reputed Russian mob figure. The two were featured in an hour-long television show seen in both Canada and the United States, but the NHL remained largely unconcerned.

"The league takes very seriously any allegations of potential influence of a Russian criminal element on the game or its players and has been closely monitoring the situation since 1996," said William Daley, the NHL's executive vice president and chief legal counsel. "If it were ever to become necessary, the league would act swiftly and appropriately.

"Even though many of these allegations made most recently in a CBC show called Major Misconduct (and shown on PBS in the United States) originated in 1996 and have been the subject of numerous investigations, not a single NHL player has ever been arrested or indicted or had their visa privileges revoked in Canada or in the U.S. on charges stemming from or related to an involvement in or association with organized crime."

In other words, the so-called Russian mob and its relationship to NHL stars is a non-story that won't seem to die. The league's position is that it's a dead horse. The horse was born dead. And no amount of smacking it with a stick will bring it to life, no matter how hard some so-called journalists try.

Some facts are irrefutable, of course. In the absence of the iron-fisted KGB that maintained order under Communist rule until 1989, crime is rampant and fortunes are being made outside what passes for the law in Russia. It is inevitable that hockey players who become stars in Russia cross paths with some people with questionable reputations.

In Russia, laws have but one function: to increase the power of the bureaucrats and other self-described businessmen. The real law there is: "You pay, and I'll make an exception;" or, "It depends on who you are and whether you hurt me or reward me."

There are basically two kinds of laws in today's Russia: all-encompassing, so that a bureaucrat can squeeze a bribe from every inch of legal territory under his control, or vague, so that everything would depend on the interpretation and good will of the bureaucrat. Laws are generally unpublished, so that every citizen needs a bureaucrat even to know what's right or wrong. They are severe, in order to scare a citizen into giving more. And they are largely unenforced, so that people can live.

So what is it in Russia that serves to organize this crowd of individuals, devoid of the shelter provided by law? Quite simply, the nation is ruled, and the peace generally kept, by informal personal relationships. It is the fabric of Russian society.

In Russia, every entrepreneur -- hockey players among them -- learns as soon as he opens his doors for business that he is breaking some law, regulation or instruction. And of course, he is told that the consequences for violating these regulations are very severe. So the businessman takes out a kind of insurance policy. Russians call it a krysha, literally meaning roof. Krysha is a person or an organization that can protect you from trouble as you do business. It usually involves sharing profits and often giving up some control over the business.

There are two types of krysha. One is connected to the state, and it's purpose is to bend laws in your favor, like the city inspector in an American city who takes a bribe for overlooking the roaches in a restaurant's kitchen. The other is the criminal krysha, one that protects by sheer force. In Russia -- whether or not Fetisov has heard about it -- this element is called the mafia. Its primary weapon is intimidation, its tactics often brutal.

Which type is better? In Russia, there is little debate. Most businessmen in Russia try to have both. And it is the relationship of your krysha with other kryshas that determine a businessman's fate.

What does this have to do with hockey players? Maybe nothing. Maybe everything. Do hockey players have kryshas? Perhaps not, but many of them do maintain serious personal relationships with so-called businessmen back home in a way of life most North Americans cannot begin to understand.

Some, like Fetisov, Bure and Detroit's Sergei Fedorov, travel freely around Moscow when they return home, unencumbered by threats or worries of extortion -- or worse. Others, like Slava Kozlov, Fedorov's teammate in Detroit, won't travel back and forth from Voskresensk, about two hours from Moscow, without an armed bodyguard. Still others, like Dallas' Sergei Zubov, have curtailed their visits to Russia.

It's virtually impossible to engage a Russian player in a conversation about organized crime. To talk about it simply lends credence to a story blown far out of proportion, they say. Fetisov, especially, is angered by the allegations.

"I have done nothing wrong," he said. "But every time this stuff comes up, it makes me look bad. It hurts me. I have nothing else to say about it."

The NHL has conducted its own investigations, attempting to talk with every Russian player in the league about the issue. It's primary concern, after the safety of its players, is the potential to fix a game for the purposes of gambling. It has found no wrongdoing.

"After separate investigations by the National Hockey League's security department, its independent expert on Russian organized crime, and the FBI, there is no evidence of any instance in which an NHL game had been 'fixed,' or even any instance of an attempt to 'fix' an NHL game," Daly said.

"While many of these allegations are serious, the reputations of our athletes are valuable and well-earned, and we have no desire to taint them unjustly or without adequate evidence and substantiation. Deprivation of a person's livelihood is not an action the National Hockey League takes lightly or without good cause."

That said, it's time for a moratorium on gossip regarding the Russian mafia's influence on the NHL. Let's end the witch hunt.

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Home sounds good for Panthers

SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) -- This is why Pavel Bure loves hockey.

The Florida Panthers star scored a goal and assisted on two others in a 6-2 victory over the New York Rangers on Friday night. The victory came two days after a 6-1 loss to Philadelphia.

"That is what's so great about this game," Bure said. "You lose 6-1 and 48 hours later you win 6-2. That's why I love this game. It's not as easy as it looks, because we had that really bad game against Philly and we were trying to bounce back. It's just great."

Florida scored four goals in an 11-minute span in the second period, and Trevor Kidd made 39 saves as the Panthers improved to 9-2-1 at home and 6-0-1 when Bure scores.

"I wish there would be more games like this," Panthers coach Terry Murray said. "It was a wide open game; fun for the fans and fun for us."

Radek Dvorak and Ray Whitney scored goals in the opening minutes of the second, sending goalie Mike Richter to the bench and giving the Panthers a 3-1 lead.

Richter's replacement, Kirk McLean, did not fair much better.

The Panthers scored twice on McLean in the second. Viktor Kozlov scored a power-play goal at 11:49, and Scott Mellanby added a goal 27 seconds later to make it 5-1.

The four second-period goals were a season high for the Panthers.

"Consistency certainly hasn't been there," Rangers right wing John MacLean said. "We got embarrassed, and it keeps happening. We go brain dead for certain periods of a time, and it hurts."

New York played without star defenseman Brian Leetch for the first time this season. He is expected to be sidelined 6-8 weeks after fracturing his right forearm Wednesday against Tampa Bay.

The Panthers scored first when Jaroslav Spacek beat Richter with a wrist shot at 11:38 of the first period.

The Rangers tied it at 19:37 on Kim Johnsson's second goal of the season. Johnsson slipped a shot past Trevor Kidd from just inside the blue line off a faceoff.

Bure started the scoring onslaught in the second with a perfect crossing pass to Kozlov, whose shot rebounded off Richter to Dvorak, who was alone in front of the net.

Bure, scoreless in the last four games, beat McLean in the third period for the Russian star's eighth goal in 14 games this season.

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Bure breaks out..

Pavel Bure (10) scores late in the third period against New York Rangers goaltender Kirk McLean (30) in Sunrise, Fla., Friday, Nov. 26,1999. The Panthers won 6-2.(AP Photo/Gary I. Rothstein) -PBFC

Bure scored his first goal in five games and second this month to make it 6-1 just over five minutes into the third. Bure fooled McLean with a wrister from the slot at 5:02 of the third to give the Panthers a 6-1 lead.

"As soon as we'd see Pavel Bure take off, we tried to play the same way: fancy hockey," Mathieu Schneider said. "There aren't too many Pavel Bures in the league. We certainly don't have one."

"Usually, it's really hard when you don't score goals for so many games, but you just have to keep trying," Bure said. "Even tonight, I could have scored three or four goals, but I scored only one."

Pavel was a plus two for the game with six shots on goal.

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Bure held scoreless in loss

Pavel Bure takes a shot during first-period action.

Pavel was held to just two shots on goal in tonight's 6-1 loss to the Philadelphia Flyers.

He was a minus one for the night in the plus minus column.

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Bure ready to break out

SUNRISE *** Coaches see the subtleties the rest of us miss. So when coach Terry Murray says he noticed signs that Pavel Bure was starting to find his game in the Florida Panthers' win against Pittsburgh on Saturday, it should amount to an all-points-bulletin for the rest of the NHL.

"I really felt he started to take control of the last half of that game," Murray said Tuesday as the Panthers prepared for tonight's game against Philadelphia at the National Car Rental Center. "We're starting to see a very confident player again."

Tonight will mark the first time this season -- and the first time since he played the first seven games upon his arrival in January -- that Bure will play a fifth straight game.

Injuries to his knee, groin and now the finger have made him a spectator at all but 23 of the 84 games the Panthers have played since he was acquired. This year he's fifth on the team in scoring with seven goals and four assists.

He has a right to be frustrated. Yet he insists he is not.

"I'm really enjoying right now," he said, "because I don't remember the last time I was playing and my team was on top of the NHL. That's a great feeling, and it makes a huge difference."

Bure's finger is only halfway through the six-week healing process. The nail remains black, he must wear a cast to play and he can't grip a stick properly -- all of which have a lot to do with the fact he has one goal and one assist in his four games since returning.

But as the feeling and flexibility have begun to return, so has his game.

"Right now it's really important to play as many games as possible without being injured again," he said. "I've been in five games, out three, and that's hard. You can't just go in and start to play; you have to keep playing."

"When he gets that consistency," Murray said, "we're going to see all the things he's going to be able to do for us over the long haul.

"In that Pittsburgh game we started to see him show what he can do to take control of games."

Murray hopes to hasten that process by pairing Bure with Ray Whitney, the team's leading scorer and most gifted passer. Whitney once had 113 assists in junior hockey and now has a team-high 13 despite getting few opportunities to play alongside Bure.

"I want Pavel to end up with the puck a little more in scoring situations," said Murray, who put Radek Dvorak at left wing on the same line, which made its debut Saturday.

Of course, Murray has tried just about everyone else in the same role. Viktor Kozlov started there, Oleg Kvasha had a shot, and most recently there was Rob Niedermayer, who somewhat surprisingly described the experience as relaxing.

"Pavel's the kind of guy who really relaxes you on the ice," Niedermayer said. "He's real positive. Even after you get a goal scored on you he's like, `Come on, let's get it back, let's get it back.' I love playing with him."

If Bure is bothered by the fact he's fifth in team scoring, it doesn't show. And if he's bothered by the fact the Panthers take a back seat to the Dolphins on the daily sports pages, that doesn't show either.

"There's no way we're going to compete with the Dolphins," he said. "What's important is the people who are coming out to support us. We don't hear much booing; they're always behind you. It's a good feeling to have that support; that's why we're doing so well (8-1-1) at home."

Since Bure helped Vancouver to the Stanley Cup finals in 1993-94, his teams have missed the playoffs the past four years and haven't won a playoff round in five. While he knows his health is a big key, he's excited about where the Panthers are headed.

"We're winning some big games and we feel we can win the (Eastern) conference," he said. "We can compete against any team in the league, if we play the way we can. What we have to do right now is keep the confidence growing and get more consistency."

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Bure proves one player can make a team better

He's in the lineup one night *** and out the next with an injury. You see that chihuahua selling chalupas on television more often. So how, Pavel Bure's critics want to know, can the Panthers justify paying this fancy-skating winger close to $50 million over six years?

Easy. You don't calculate Bure's value to South Florida on a per-game basis. Even when he's not in the lineup, there's an aura of Pavelmania in the Panthers locker room. You can feel it.

"He works just as hard at practice as he does in the games," linemate Rob Niedermayer says. "You constantly judge your improvement to his level of play. And even when he's not around, you find yourself doing those same things to get better.

"It's sort of like just being in the building with Michael Jordan. There's just a special sort of feeling in the air."

And in today's watered-down NHL, thanks to expansion, one player can take a team to a different level.

"The league is so close that by acquiring one player or one asset you can step ahead of two or three teams," Blues GM Larry Pleau says. "It's almost like climbing the steps two steps at a time."

So, when you add a two-time 60-goal scorer like Bure, then trade for goaltender Trevor Kidd, defenseman Todd Simpson and sign defenseman Lance Pitlick and right winger Ray Sheppard as free agents, you can see why the Panthers are off to an 11-7-2 start.

"That doesn't even count the improvement of kids like Jaroslav Spacek, Viktor Kozlov, Radek Dvorak and Oleg Kvasha," Panthers coach Terry Murray says. "Pavel has made an impression on every player on our roster."

Last season, the team was 5-2-4 in games Bure started and finished. The Panthers averaged 3.18 goals per game with him in the lineup and 2.46 without him. The presence of Pavel Bure has made the rest of this lineup believers in the power of positive thinking.

On a scale of 1-to-10, I ask Murray how he would rate his team's performances this season as compared to last year's initial spurt with Bure in the lineup.

"On most nights, we're a 5 or a 6," Murray answers quickly and enthusiastically. "And on some nights we're up to a 7 or 8."

Giving Kidd a chance to be the No. 1 goalie has added a flair in the nets the Panthers haven't had since John Vanbiesbrouck's 1995-96 season when he took the team to the Stanley Cup finals. Kidd gives Florida a chance to win every night.

Simpson, a great plus-minus player in Calgary last season, adds a nastiness on defense. Pitlick brings a steadiness on defense and in moving the puck up the ice.

And Sheppard is a former 50-goal scorer who, at 33 last season, had 25 goals and 33 assists for Carolina.

The moves made by Panthers general manager Bryan Murray, along with his philosophy of giving youngsters the opportunity for development, are providing a blueprint general managers should follow into the new millennium.

Of course, it all started with the two-month investment in time before the Panthers were able to acquire Bure from the Canucks last January.

"When my owner comes to me and asks if we should be making that kind of a commitment and I answer 'yes,' then I'd better be sure we are getting the kind of product that is worth almost $50 million," Murray says. "I've been in this game a long time, and this is the first time I've recommended spending that kind of money on one player. That's a lot of money and it had better be well-spent."

The Penguins found out first-hand how Bure can make players around him better on November 20. Even players like Mike Wilson, a 6-6 defenseman, who came into this season with 11 goals in 235 NHL games.

Bure took a pass from Ray Whitney and slipped a cross-ice pass through two defensemen to Wilson. All Wilson had to do was flip the puck into an empty net for his second goal of the season and a 2-1 overtime victory.

"It's like he's Tiger Woods driving the ball 300 yards and hitting a great iron shot to the green, and all I have to do is tap it in for a birdie," Wilson says, smiling.

Opponents just nod in respect for the talent -- and presence -- Bure brings to the Panthers.

"You can see the confidence on their faces when Pavel is around," Penguins coach Kevin Constantine says. "Give him an inch, and he'll find an opening and either score the winner or set it up."

Not only have the players responded to having Pavel Bure around. When he's on the ice, every pair of eyes is watching him.

"When he has the puck, it brings people out of their seats—and he brings us to our feet on the bench," Whitney says. "There aren't many players in hockey who can do that."

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ANNA: up for grabs

NOW that Anna Kounikova has been dropped as Martina Hingis' doubles partner, the self-proclaimed virgin has plenty of time to date. A source close to the Russian sexpot says the party POV mag is throwing for its 18-year-old covergirl tonight at Caviarteria has more to do with meeting eligible men than the launch of her Web site. We last saw Kournikova making eyes at the Florida Panthers' Pavel Bure, mere days after she publicly labeled longtime squeeze Sergei Federov "just a friend." Our tipster says "Only athletes, actors and models need apply."

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Bure passes the puck for Panther win

Defenseman Mike Wilson put Bure's pass on a 2-on-1 into an all-but-empty net with 2:03 remaining in overtime, giving the Florida Panthers a 2-1 victory against Pittsburgh in front of 16,349 at the National Car Rental Center.

The win -- made somewhat easier by the fact Jaromir Jagr was back in Pittsburgh nursing a thigh injury -- gave the Panthers (11-7-2) the league's best home record at 8-1-1. Pittsburgh dropped to 5-10-3.

Ray Whitney hit Bure with a breakout pass and Wilson got behind Pittsburgh forward Martin Straka to create the 2-on-1 against defenseman Brad Werenka. With both Werenka and goaltender Jean-Sebastian Aubin cheating toward Bure, Wilson had an easy tap-in once Bure lifted his backhand pass over Werenka's stick.

"If you saw us two coming down the ice, who are you going to take?" Wilson said with a smile after scoring his second goal and first game-winner as a Panther.

"I could see Pavel looking at me all the way after he got over the blue line. He made such a great pass I couldn't miss."

"It feels great," said Bure, who picked up his first point in three games on the play. "It's always great when you win in overtime. We have to build team confidence, and it's important to win at home."

The Panthers showed character after Trevor Kidd allowed an innocent looking 60-foot shot by Stephen Leach to slip through his pads just 4:05 into the game. But Kidd was excellent the rest of the way, stopping the next 21 shots he faced.

"It's not what I wanted to do," Kidd said of the Leach goal on the first Penguins shot. "There wasn't enough focus or concentration."

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Bure's assist powers Cats over Penguins, 2-1

Florida Panthers' Ray Whitney, left, and Pavel Bure, right, hug Mike Wilson after he scored the game-winning goal.

Sneer all you want that 6-6 Panthers defenseman Mike Wilson doesn't hit anything. Saturday night in overtime, Wilson hit the open net Pavel Bure presented him to give the Panthers a 2-1 victory over Pittsburgh.

''I couldn't miss that net,'' Wilson said. ''Pavel made such a great pass.''

Until that moment, at 2:57 of overtime, it appeared as if the Panthers were going to unwrap a tie from the gift of a home game against the Eastern Conference's No. 11 team -- a team that was missing injured superstar Jaromir Jagr.

Though the Panthers generally had the better of the play, the Pens would suddenly pop up with a stunning scoring chance. German Titov, who hit the left post in the second, and Alexei Morozov seemed to teleport themselves into the slot at times.

''They spring that weak-side guy open, who [then] generates something out of the offensive zone,'' Panthers coach Terry Murray said.

When Florida's Ray Whitney interrupted one of those east-west passes in the slot, Wilson and Bure took off into the neutral zone. Whitney headmanned the puck to Bure, while Wilson burst ahead of Pittsburgh's Martin Straka.

Bure came over the Pittsburgh line and stared down Wilson, on his left and on the other side of Pittsburgh defenseman Brad Werenka.

''If you see us two coming down, who are you going to take?'' Wilson laughed.

Any goalie knows if he cheats at all on the pass, a shooter like Bure will bury it between the legs or on the short side. So, once Bure laid a pass beyond Werenka, goalie Jean-Sebastian Aubin had no chance on Wilson's rap into a yawning net.

The Panthers stay four points ahead of Carolina in the Southeast Division and haven't lost in regulation when Trevor Kidd (9-2-2) is in goal.

Attempting to jump start an offense that had been shut out Thursday in St. Louis and shut down most of Wednesday's game in Colorado, Murray jumbled the lines Saturday night.

Whitney was moved to center, where he played with Bure and Radek Dvorak, who had three goals in three games going into Saturday. On the second line, Ray Sheppard was kept on the left side, with center Viktor Kozlov, who scored the first Florida goal, and right wing Mark Parrish.

Rob Niedermayer centered a third line with Ryan Johnson moved from center to left wing and Scott Mellanby on the right. Struggling Oleg Kvasha was dropped to left wing on the fourth line with Chris Wells and Paul Laus.

The Panthers outshot Pittsburgh, 10-1, in the first 9:17. But the count on successful shots was 1-0, Pittburgh, on Steve Leach's dump-in from the food court at Sawgrass Mills.

OK, so it was only 85 feet or so, but that might as well be the mall across the street when you're talking about a floater that bounced, changed direction and snuck past Kidd.

''On the bench after the goal was scored, all we said was, 'Let's go get it back,' '' Murray said. ''Kidd has made a lot of big stops for us in a lot of games this year to allow us to get a point out of it.''

The Penguins, once the victims of the NHL's tolerance of hooking and holding, now clutch and grab like an affectionate family. Appropriately, four of the game's first five power plays came from restraining fouls called on Pittsburgh.

The Panthers could not score with their first four power plays Saturday night. That changed when they worked the puck down to a two-on-one down low, with Bure outside the right post and Kozlov walking out of the left corner. Kozlov beat Aubin between the legs to tie the score, 1-1.

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Bure sets up game-winning overtime goal

Pavel Bure tried and tried to end his goal-scoring slump Saturday night. He wasn't able to, but he'll settle for the game-winning assist.

Defenseman Mike Wilson, in clutch fashion, banged Bure's 2-on-1 feed into an open net with 2:03 left in overtime to give the Panthers a dramatic 2-1 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins.

"I couldn't miss that net," Wilson said. "If you saw us two coming, if you were the goalie, who would you take?"

Youngster Jean-Sebastien Aubin, who didn't deserve the fate he got -- he was marvelous all night, with 33 saves -- took the sniper, but the sniper, who has two goals in six games, gave the puck up.

"Pavel stumbled at the blue line, but he was looking at me all the way," Wilson said. "He put it on my tape, so there was nothing else I could do but score."

And score Wilson did, his second of the season, to lift the Panthers (11-7-2-2) to their fifth win in six games. They improved their NHL-best record at home to 8-1-1, having gotten a point in all 10 games they've played here. It was the perfect finish to the start of a four-game homestand that still has the Flyers and Rangers coming to town.

Trevor Kidd's first night as the clear-cut No. 1 goalie after the trade of Sean Burke started rocky enough, but it ended with him leading the Panthers to a point for the 13th time in 13 starts.

He improved to 9-2-2 (the two losses gave the Panthers points because they came in overtime) and lowered his goals against average to under 2.

After allowing a goal from 15 feet inside the red line on the first shot he saw, Kidd closed the door the rest of the way with 21 saves.

"On the bench right after the goal was scored, everybody was just saying, 'Let's go get it back,'" coach Terry Murray said. "There was nothing more said than that. Kidd has made a lot of big stops for us in a lot of games this year to allow us to get a point out of it and everybody wanted to play hard for him."

The Panthers did tie the game on a rare goal by Viktor Kozlov at 16:55 of the second.

Kozlov has been the most snakebitten Panthers forward this season, scoring only his fourth Saturday. The goal was his first since an empty netter Oct. 20, snapping a 12-game drought. It was actually his first goal with a goalie in net since Oct. 6, snapping an incomprehensible 17-game span.

The goal came on the power play when Kozlov took Ray Whitney's pass from along the half boards at the goal line. Kozlov did the right thing by driving the net and taking a shot, ignoring the temptation to get cute and try and hit Bure at the back door. The Panthers tried that play three times on the evening, and couldn't convert each time.

Kozlov's shot, moments after Robert Svehla banged the post, slipped between Aubin's pads.

"The power-play goal was a breath of hope," Murray said.

The Panthers might consider themselves fortunate that they even got another power play. Referees Blaine Angus and Dan Marouelli awarded the Panthers five straight power plays compared to none for Pittsburgh when they finally scored.

The Panthers failed on the first four, but they had the right idea on each as they shot the puck, taking nine shots before the fifth power play.

Kozlov's goal snapped an 0-for-17 dry spell after a 6-for-12 spurt before Bure's return from a groin injury last week against Buffalo.

The Panthers outshot Pittsburgh 26-12 through two periods, and 35-22 for the game. At one point, they were outshooting the Pens 10-1 in the first. But that one shot was a doozy, an 85-foot shot from just inside the red line by right winger Stephen Leach.

The puck bounced the entire way to Kidd, then bounced again at the last second to hop over his stick and through his pads.

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BURE ON MOROZOV: JUST BE PATIENT

SUNRISE, Fla. - It's easier nowadays for European players to adjust to the NHL. But that doesn't mean it's easy.

Penguins winger Aleksey Morozov, for example, still is adjusting to a new language, a new culture and a different style of hockey than he was used to in his native country of Russia. Morozov is in his third NHL season.

Florida Panthers star Pavel Bure, who was Morozov's teammate on the 1998 Russian Olympic team, advises people to stay patient with Morozov. Bure was one of the Eastern European trail blazers in the NHL. He came from Moscow to Vancouver in 1991.

"It was really hard. It was new. People asked me for everything. It took at least four years to adjust," Bure said Saturday after the Panthers' morning skate. "I came over when I was 20. It's just different here. It's the food, the culture, even the jokes. When you're 20, you're not a kid, but you're not a man yet."

Dealing with media pressure was one of the hardest parts of the transition, Bure said.

"In Russia, it's totally normal if someone asks you a personal question to say, `Well, it's none of your business,' and people understand,'|" he said. "Here, you can't really say that. They say, `Why are you so rude?' You're like, `Why am I rude? I didn't say anything wrong; I said it's none of your business, because it's not.' It takes time to understand. But if you live here, if you work here, you have to respect the culture. You have to adjust yourself."

Bure is one of the NHL's new wave of superstars, and he plays the role of ambassador quite well. He touched on a number of other subjects yesterday:

On whether the NHL is opening up offensively: "In overtime, yes. But other than that, I wouldn't say so. Everybody is playing well defensively. Last year, nobody scored 50 goals. Once, when I scored 60 goals, I was fifth in the league. Sixty goals and I was fifth! Obviously, something is different."

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Panthers winger Bure speed-of-light threat to Penguins' defense

By Dave Molinari-- Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Saturday, November 20th, 1999

He isn't even the best right winger in the game.

The guy who holds all those distinctions -- a fellow named Jaromir Jagr -- is sitting in Pittsburgh, nursing a sore thigh muscle.

But Bure just might be the fastest player in hockey; he isn't known as "The Russian Rocket" just because the alliteration is nice. And Bure, whose game is a riveting blend of speed and skill, almost certainly is the most electrifying talent in the league.

"He's pure energy," Penguins defenseman Brad Werenka said.

Performing damage-control against Bure will be one of the Penguins' primary challenges when they face Florida at 7:38 tonight at the National Car Rental Center.

They actually have done reasonably well against him over the years -- Bure has seven goals and two assists in 11 career games against the Penguins -- but he could give those numbers a new look in a heartbeat.

His ability to exploit the tiniest flaw in a defense, exposing and exploiting a hole almost instantly, make Bure a game-breaker with few, if any, peers. And one of hockey's most entertaining performers.

"He excites the fans and he excites the team," Werenka said. "He's a pace-setter.

"Sometimes you might be a little [sluggish], but if you've got him, he jumps in and gets the puck and takes off. All of a sudden, everybody's awake."

And, as often as not, on their feet, because Bure has the kind of gifts that pull a crowd out of its seats. He's not the only NHL player who can do that, of course; guys like Jagr and Anaheim's tandem of Teemu Selanne and Paul Kariya have the same knack.

But even though Selanne and Kariya, among others, have exceptional speed, Bure probably ranks a half-notch or so above them.

"Kariya and Selanne pose certain problems, but [Bure] is all-out speed," Werenka said. "He sees the hole, and hits it. There are guys like him, but he's definitely unique in what he does."

Bure broke the pinkie on his left hand two weeks ago but declined to have surgery that would have forced him to sit out for several weeks.

"It's always fun to play because I hate to just hang around the gym and ride a bike," he said. "It's not what I choose in my life. I choose to play hockey."

The injury seems to be affecting his game somewhat, because he has been held without a point in each of the Panthers' past two games -- a 2-1 victory in Colorado Wednesday and a 3-0 defeat in St. Louis Thursday.

His legs haven't been affected, though, and they might be Bure's greatest asset, although it should be noted that he is shifty and creative, not just fast, when carrying the puck.

"He's a unique player," Penguins defenseman Darius Kasparaitis said. "I practiced with him this summer, and during the practices, I watched him skate and make some moves that were amazing."

Precisely how the Penguins will try to neutralize him remains to be seen.

They used Werenka and his defense partner, Michal Rozsival, against Kariya and Selanne during a game in Anaheim last month, and might do the same tonight.

They also might try to match a five-man unit against Bure's line.

Regardless of who draws the assignment, there are a few keys to containing Bure. The most important is for the defensemen to keep themselves between him and the net.

"If he gets the puck [behind the defense], there's no way you're going to catch him," Kasparaitis said. "You always have to keep him in front of you and try to keep your feet moving."

It also will be critical for the defenseman to maintain a good "gap," the space between themselves and Bure when play is moving toward the Penguins' zone.

"You can't give him too much space between him and you," Werenka said. "Because once you get too big of a space, in the time it takes to close it, he's got a lot of speed, and you could be in trouble."

Getting too close to Bure can be risky, too, because he is adept at dodging checks. Trying to hit him along the boards is dangerous; doing in when he has room to maneuver is downright foolish.

"You don't play physical against a guy like him in open ice," Werenka said.

Bure is chugging along at just below a point-per-game pace -- he has seven goals and three assists in 11 games -- and is unquestionably the dominant presence on the Panthers' roster. He is not, however, Florida's only formidable talent.

"If you just focus on him, you can get in trouble," Werenka said. "They've got some good players."

One who might command a lot of attention tonight is right winger Radek Dvorak, who has four goals in Florida's past five games and provided the impetus for a four-game winning streak that ended Thursday.

The Penguins also will have to worry about containing the likes of left winger Ray Whitney, defenseman Robert Svehla and centers Viktor Kozlov and Rob Niedermayer.

Still, there's no question Bure is the driving force behind Florida's offense. After all, the Panthers are 6-3-2 when he's played this season, 4-4 when he's been injured.

Those numbers are a lot like those Florida put up last season. The Panthers were 5-4-2 when Bure played -- 5-2-2 when he didn't leave the game early -- and 25-30-16 when he wasn't in their lineup.

Anyone tempted to dismiss that as a coincidence should be aware that Bure rang up 13 goals and three assists in the 11 games in which he appeared last season. Clearly, he's one guy who can have a profound impact on how successful his team is.

"The record makes that real, real obvious," Penguins Coach Kevin Constantine said. "It's great with him, and not nearly as good without him. That's typical of a great player."

Even though there's nothing else typical about Pavel Bure.

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Hey, Pavel - Wassup with you and Kournikova?

By Jose Lambiet-- Sun-Sentinel
Friday, November 19th, 1999

Panthers superstar Pavel Bure really is the Russian Rocket.

How else can you explain this: Bure was seen flirting with tennis prodigy Anna Kournikova, her mother and a former Russian beauty queen in a Manhattan restaurant early Monday morning, then turned up for practice in Sunrise bright-eyed and bushy-tailed by 9:30 a.m.

Insider spies in Gotham swear the steel-nerved goal scorer was spotted at the Russian Samovar eatery on West 52nd Street shortly before 1 a.m., sampling with a party of 10 some of the joint's 150 flavors and brands of vodka.

With him was Kournikova, the 18-year-old on-again, off-again girlfriend of Detroit Red Winger Sergei Fedorov. Also there: Kournikova's mother who, in a mini-miniskirt and white fur hat, looked as young as her kid.

"The mother was flirting with Pavel," said Roman Kaplan, co-owner of the restaurant with ballet great Mikhail Baryshnikov. "But then, she was flirting with me, too."

Kournikova only had eyes for the oft-injured Bure, and threw a hissy when she noticed Bure's baby-blues shifting to former Miss USSR Julia Sukhanova. The tennis babe then left, alone, while Bure picked up the $800-tab.

Panthers spokesman Mike Hanson said Sunday was a day off, and as long as Bure was back on time for practice, he could do whatever he pleased. Through Hanson, however, Bure was asked about the 2,600-mile escapade to a restaurant sometimes frequented by unsavory types, including the guy who once attempted to extort money from NHLer Alexander Mogilny. His answer: "My private life is my private life."

Kournikova, however, remained on Bure's mind all the way to Denver, where the Panthers played the Avalanche Wednesday night. My people in the Rockies say the Mighty Muscovite had a cabby drive him all over town Monday night to find a sports bar that was showing Kournikova play on the tube. Bure found a place, and watched her lose to Mary Pierce.

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Pavol scores two for St.Louis

Thursday, November 18th, 1999

St. Louis Blues goalie Roman Turek (1) uses his knee to block a shot on goal by the Florida Panthers as Blues' Terry Yake (27) and Chris Pronger (44) wait for the loose puck during the first period at the Kiel Center in St. Louis Thursday, Nov. 18, 1999. Watching the action are the Panthers' Rak Whitney (14) and Pavel Bure (10). (AP Photo/James A. Finley)-PBFC

Pavol Dimitra scored two goals for St.Louis Blues and Handzus scored an empty net goal to make it 3-0 for the home team.

Pavel Bure was kept off the scoreboard for the second consecutive game but had a much better game than in Wednesday's win in Colorado.. He was a minus one for the game, with 3 shots on goal. For the second straight game, Pavel Bure and Ray Whitney were non-factors. They combined for four shots versus the Blues on the heels of a six-shot effort the previous night.

``In a close game it's only going to be one goal or two goals,'' Panthers coach Terry Murray said. ``Both guys played well. They had their opportunities. We make it very tight where we end up that one shot is the difference in the game. I don't have an answer for that.''

The Panthers played surprisingly well in a scoreless opening period considering they did not arrive in St. Louis until 4:30 a.m. Thursday's game was Florida's second in 22 hours.

``I'm really satisfied the way we played two periods,'' Bure said. ``Everybody was pulling together, so that's a good sign. Sometimes you have a lot of chances in one game, sometimes you don't. You just have to still be patient and try to create.''

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Panthers edge Colorado

Wednesday, November 17th, 1999

Colorado Avalanche defenseman Sandis Ozolinsh, front, loses control of the puck as Florida Panthers right winger Pavel Bure, back left, and center Ryan Johnson, back right, close in from behind in the first period in Denver's Pepsi Center Wednesday, Nov. 17, 1999. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)-PBFC

The Florida Panthers won their 4th straight game with a 2-1 victory over the Colorado Avalanche.

With newly acquired Ray Sheppard in the lineup for the first time and put on a line with Pavel Bure, the Avalanche did an outstanding job at shutting down Bure, who scored a hat trick against Colorado the last time the two teams faced. Wednesday night, Bure took only two shots, his lowest output of the season. He was a minus 1 for the night.

Bure was better in the second period. He only had one shot, but he twice set up Ray Whitney for one-timers that Roy stopped. Part of Bure's resurgence was because Alex Tanguay leveled him early in the period while shorthanded. On the next shift, Bure was visibly angered, so much so that he crushed Martin Skoula into the glass.

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Tonight's game preview

By David J Neal-- Miami Herald
Wednesday, November 17th, 1999

....the Panthers have the Ray Sheppard-Rob Niedermayer-Pavel Bure line on the ice tonight. Sheppard will help get the puck to Bure, who had a hat trick in that March 3 game.

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Pavel Bure will make a decision Saturday morning if he can play. Bure has practiced the past two days with a broken finger. Bure said he was sore after Friday's practice. Pavel Bure skated with the team for most of Friday's practice with his broken pinkie finger in a small cast

"I'm wearing a special cast that looks like a light bulb so the finger doesn't touch the glove," Bure said. "But there's still vibration when the puck (hits my stick)."

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Everyone's the loser in Gretzky-Bure soap

Wayne Gretzky saying he would have played at least one more season had the Rangers landed Pavel Bure last season will play like a burning match on dynamite in New York.

The man feeling the heat is GM Neil Smith, as if he isn't feeling enough already having a payroll of $58-million-US-plus and a team four games under .500 going into Thursday.

While readers of The Province have known Gretzky would have played one more season with Bure, for the Great One to say this publicly will be a revelation to Cablevision heavies Dave Checketts and his boss, Ted Dolan. These two characters, both of whom were taking naive lessons last year when it came to 99's future, watched their club fritter away a two-goal lead Wednesday and were not amused.

The killer for Smith, of course, is he was given a public go-ahead by Checketts last year to land Bure, money be damned. The official reason why the deal wasn't consummated is because Smith didn't want to give up centre Manny Malhotra, who was going to be some kind of star of the future. The real reason, of course, was Canucks GM Brian Burke didn't want to give the Russian Rocket his first choice of destinations and refused several much-better offers from New York in favour of the lame deal he made with Florida.

At the time Burke knew the deal he made would result in at least huge disappointment for the Great One and at worst, his retirement. That's why he called Gretzky shortly afterwards to explain his reasons for making the deal he did.

During the talks, Smith badly overplayed his New York hand, figuring Burke couldn't find anywhere else to deal Bure because of the money he would command. As a result, Smith never made his best offer because even at the end, he was convinced there was no other deal out there. In a way Smith was right because Burke's deal was a joke, but it didn't help him. When Smith found out that fateful Sunday, it'll be remembered he was furious and now we know why.

Some have speculated Smith knew he would miss the boat and wanted to do so, knowing Gretzky would retire, freeing up the $7 million they were going to pay him this season. If that's so, just how badly he miscalculated is coming home to roost.

The Rangers' power play was a league-worst 4-72 before Thursday and had missed 32 straight chances. You could blindfold Gretzky and put him behind the net and he'd make twice that many plays. The player Smith signed with the saved Gretzky money is Theo Fleury, who so far on Broadway has been as depressing as a Sylvain Lefebvre slapshot.

Making matters worse is his star of the future -- hard working but hardly super-skilled Malhotra -- can barely get on the ice. Since he became coach, John Muckler hasn't taken a shine to the centre. Malhotra is having a forgettable sophomore season.

The only thing that's helped Smith is Bure has been hurt much of his time in Florida. Had he been healthy and his stats extrapolated to full-time play, either Smith or Muckler, or both, would be looking for work.

Gretzky was disappointed at the time the Rangers missed Bure and hasn't forgotten the folly. Neither have New York and Vancouver fans, the former watching Malhotra languish and the latter realizing just how little they got for one of the world's great talents.

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Bure out again

Bure, in pain and unable to handle a stick Wednesday, has declined surgery to fix the broken bone because he doesn't want to miss the four to six weeks that would be the result of such an operation.

Instead, he's going to let it heal naturally.

"It hurts a lot," Bure said. "The doctors said, 'If you don't do the surgery, your finger is going to look funny.' I said, 'I don't care if it looks funny as long as it's functional.'"

Bure will play when he can tolerate the pain enough to handle a stick.

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Injury benches Bure

Broken finger prevents Panther from holding stick

The question of whether or not Pavel Bure could play Wednesday was answered before the morning skate when Bure couldn't hold a stick with his left hand, the one with the fractured finger.

Bure said he wanted to resume skating today and hoped to play Saturday against the Buffalo Sabres.

Panthers general manager Bryan Murray said Bure felt hurt by disparagements in the local and national media that suggested he was less than manly for sitting out with a broken finger -- an injury that has sidelined many hockey players.

``When you don't have to do it yourself, I guess it's easy to make criticisms,'' Murray said.

Bure laughed and shrugged, ``I've heard everything about myself. What else is new?''

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Panthers feast on expansion Thrashers

SUNRISE, Fla. -- Rob Niedermayer and Scott Mellanby scored power-play goals and Ray Whitney had three assists as the Panthers defeated the Thrashers 4-1 Wednesday night.

Mellanby added an empty-netter with 24 seconds left in the game.

Pavel did not play.

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Gretzky says he would have stayed in NHL if Bure joined Rangers

TORONTO (CP) - Wayne Gretzky says he would have put off retiring for a chance to play with Pavel Bure. Gretzky, who emotionally announced his retirement from the NHL last spring, said in a TSN interview broadcast Wednesday that he would have played another season with the New York Rangers if they had acquired Bure.

"I'll tell you this, this is the best way I can say it: If they would have traded for Pavel Bure last year, I probably still would be playing right now," Gretzky said in an interview with Dave Hodge.

"Only him (Bure)?" Hodge asked.

"There's only one or two guys that were in the league that would excite me to play with at this time. He would be one of them," Gretzky replied.

Hockey's all-time leading scorer says he didn't tell anyone of his feelings.

Bure was traded by the Vancouver Canucks to the Florida Panthers last Jan. 17. The struggling Rangers were interested in Bure, but did not want to part with a package of top young players.

New York finished the season 33-38-11 and missed the playoffs for the second straight year. A weary Gretzky announced his retirement as the season wound down.

The interview with Gretzky is to be broadcast in its entirety Nov. 22 on the Dave Hodge Special as part of TSN's coverage of Gretzky's induction into the Hockey Hall of Fame. © The Canadian Press, 1999

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Bure might play tonight

Injured star: No surgery on finger

Panthers right wing Pavel Bure, who was expected to be out almost two more weeks because of a fractured little finger, could play tonight against visiting Atlanta.

Panthers coach Terry Murray said Tuesday night that Bure is still questionable for tonight's game. His readiness will be determined after today's morning skate.

Bure hasn't skated since Wednesday's 2-2 tie with Edmonton, something that's barely a concern with Bure's track record with the Panthers in games after layoffs:

Jan. 20: Two goals against the Islanders after nine months of offseason and a holdout;

Oct. 2: A goal 3:28 into the game against Washington after seven months of knee surgery recovery;

Oct. 27: Two goals, the first came 2:55 into the game, against the Islanders after missing two weeks with a strained groin.

Murray said Bure was given three choices by a hand specialist Tuesday afternoon: Have an operation to fix the end of the bone, which is exposed and perpendicular to the rest of the finger; have the bone removed; or let it heal on its own.

The last option provided the quickest return, so Bure took that one. Friday and Saturday, he glumly insisted he would play with the broken finger had the doctors not kept him out for fear of a staph infection.

An infection is still possible for the next seven days, until the stitches come out.

``It has to be left perfectly dry,'' Murray said. ``I don't know how they plan on doing that. I'm sure [trainer] Stan [Wong] has come across this before. He'll come up with something.''

Bure's return, whenever it occurs, should further help an offense that played well Saturday without him.

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Doctor is out, so Bure has to wait

SUNRISE -- The Florida Panthers want their star player back on the ice, but Pavel Bure missed a date with the doctor Monday.

Turned out the doctor was sick.

The Panthers remain unsure how healthy their offense will be as they prepare for six of the next eight games at home, including Atlanta on Wednesday at National Car Rental Center.

A specialist had been scheduled to examine Bure's broken finger, but appointments Monday were canceled. Bure is supposed to be examined today.

"The doctors will not let him play until the finger is completely healed," Florida coach Terry Murray said after practice at National Car Rental Center.

The problem is not so much the bone fracture as a risk of infection if the skin is not completely healed, Murray said.

The Panthers have been held to two goals in six of the past eight games, though they managed with a 6-3 win without Bure at Calgary on Saturday.

One of the players who has picked up the slack is Ray Whitney, who has scored in each of the past three games.

"When Pavel's not in the lineup, you just have to crash the net," Whitney said. "Overconfidence is not something we have to worry about. We need a win Wednesday night."

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DOCTOR OUT SICK

Bure, who has missed the Panthers' past two games with a broken pinkie finger, was scheduled to visit a hand specialist Monday, but the doctor called in sick and canceled all his appointments. The visit was rescheduled for today.

``The break in the finger is not the problem,'' Murray said. ``The finger was split open and the risk of infection was great. The doctors will not let him play until the wound is healed. As soon as that happens, they can always tape fingers together and he'll be able to play with no problems.''

With their 6-3 victory at Calgary, the Panthers improved to 3-4-0 without Bure in the lineup. One of those losses was a regulation tie at home against the Flames.

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Fan Favorites

NHL.com wants to know some of your hockey favorites. Each week, we'll have a new topic which you'll be able to respond to with a 250-words-or-less e-mail. We will post the most creative and original responses every weekend.

Which player would you want taking a penalty shot with the game on the line?

Bure is the majority pick to take a penalty shot with the game on the line.

Ray Seah - Coquitlam, British Colombia
Mr. Breakaway himself, Pavel Bure. Penalty shots aren't breakaways, but they're similar in many ways. Does anyone remember that stick-to-the-skate-to-the-stick goal against Boston in the preseason a few years ago? Ask most goalies who they fear most on a one-on-one situation and Bure's name will be one of the first to pop up. Honorable mentions go to Jaromir Jagr and Alexander Mogilny.

Thomas Fuchsgruber - Chicago
No doubt about it, Pavel Bure is my guy. The "Russian Rocket" is the single best goal scorer in hockey today. Bure can make any shot from anywhere on the ice, and one-on-one with the goalie he is as close to unstoppable as you can find. Just ask the NHL goalies who they would rather NOT face, can you say Bure?

Jeff Tindall - Pittsburgh
I would have to go with a sniper that has probably the best speed in the League. He can turn defensemen inside out on every shift, and make goalies think about changing professions with a flick of his wrists. His name "Russian Rocket", the great Pavel Bure.

Tim Goering - Las Vegas
I personally would have to say Pavel Bure. With his amazing speed, agility, and dekes, I believe that he could take on any goalie in the League. Pavel, even with his injury, is one of the most phenomenal players I have ever seen.

Matt Ohm - Edmonton, Alberta
This is a no-brainer. I'd pick Pavel Bure even if he was missing a skate blade. There is no player in the world, including Jagr, who can match the offensive flair Bure has. He doesn't get garbage goals; he's pure highlight material.

Ryan Heebner - Medicine Hat, Alberta
It would be a tough choice between Pavel Bure and Geoff Sanderson, but I would choose Bure. He has great speed and very skillful moves. Think what he does on the ice against other team's defense and then think what he could do just him against a goaltender!

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