Panthers Fall In Season Opener By Dave Joseph for floridapanthers.com

New York Rangers' Michal Rozsival, right, and Florida Panthers' David Booth (AP Photo/Bill Kostroun)

Turn the page…and fast.

For 45 minutes Thursday evening in New York, the Panthers played a nearly flawless hockey game. In fact, it may have been their best two periods in two years.

But the club’s season-opener against the Rangers turned cruel in the third period when the Rangers scored two goals 12 seconds apart and four in the third period on their way to a 5-2 victory over the Panthers.

Playing before a full house at Madison Square Garden, against a team many have picked to win the Stanley Cup, the Panthers had the roof cave in on them beginning at 8:46 of the third period with the game tied at two when Chris Drury and Ryan Callahan scored 12 seconds apart. Martin Straka scored the fourth goal in the third period.

“For some reason, everything was going well, and then there was a collapse,” said goalie Tomas Vokoun. “Everyone of us, we lost the game ourselves.”

GM and coach Jacques Martin said the Panthers didn’t stick with the game plan in the third period. “We didn’t make the simple passes and we turned the puck over,” said Martin, who added the Panthers stopped getting the puck into the Ranger zone and making their defensemen work.

“For whatever reason we couldn’t control it,” said defenseman Bryan Allen.

It was a depressing finish for the Panthers, who played a strong game and showed signs of a maturing after allowing a Ranger goal just 37 seconds into the game.

Despite being down early 1-0, the Panthers gathered themselves, and they gathered themselves quickly. After being outshot 4-1 in the opening minutes, the Panthers registered 11 of the next 13 shots. They also remained physical throughout and held Jagr without a shot through the first 40 minutes.

Game Highlights
Starting Lineups
Panthers		Rangers
Jokinen	C	Drury
Peltonen	LW	Straka
Stumpel	RW	Jagr
Bouwmeester	D	Malik
Allen	D	Rozsival
Vokoun	G	Lundqvist
Post-Game Video
Jacques Martin Olli Jokinen Nathan Horton Bryan Allen Tomas Vokoun
Quote of the Game
"Whatever happens, you just have to bounce back, try to fight through it. It's a good message for our team (the loss) and we have to learn quickly." - Panthers captain Olli Jokinen
Panthers Stat of the Game
100% - The Panthers penalty kill units got off to a good start for the 2007-08 season as they killed off all four Ranger power play attempts on the night.
3 Stars (floridapanthers.com)
1. Chris Drury  2. Marek Malik  3. Brett McLean

The Panthers weren’t finished. At 9:47 of the second, Nathan Horton skated into the corner, took the puck away first from a stickless Dan Girardi and then Blair Betts, before skating into the slot and wristing a shot past Lundqvist to give the Panthers a 2-1 lead.

The Panthers played nearly a perfect second period. They didn’t allow an odd-man rush, kept the puck away from Ranger stars Drury, Jagr and Gomez, and scored two goals while allowing the Rangers only four shots on goal.

But the Rangers tied the game at 6:07 of the third period when the Panthers turned the puck over at center ice and Petr Prucha wristed a shot high past Vokoun. Then the roof caved in on the Panthers.

“But there’s 82 games,” Allen added. “You can’t dwell on one game. You have to learn from it.”

The Panthers get a chance to learn from this experience Saturday at BankAtlantic Center when the host the Devils in their home opener.


NOTES

Radek Dvorak and David Booth changed uniform numbers. Dvorak will wear No. 14 this season after wearing No. 19 during camp and Booth has turned in his No. 46 for No. 10…The Panthers opened on the road for the first time Thursday since the 2001 season. The Panthers had won their previous three opening night. Overall, the Panthers were 6-4-3 on opening nights…GM and coach Jacques Martin came into the evening with a 7-2-3 record as a head coach on opening nights…Noah Welch was the Panthers healthy scratch…Richard Zednik, nursing an injured right shoulder, skated Thursday but did not practice with the team…Former Ranger defenseman Brian Leetch dropped the ceremonial first puck..