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Help wanted Panthers' weaknesses exposed in playoff sweep
Posted: Friday April 21, 2000 06:47 PM
SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) -- One fan, seemingly poised for the Florida Panthers to be swept Thursday night, brought a "Help Wanted" sign to Game 4 of Florida's first-round playoff series with New Jersey. He held it high above his head after each of the Devils' four goals. Then he left it behind, tossed to the floor amid cups, napkins and other bits of trash. Maybe he should have hung it on the door. New Jersey, outscoring Florida 12-6 in the series, exposed the Panthers' biggest weaknesses -- a one-man offense and a porous defense. It also reiterated that Florida, though young and talented, needs to make some changes this offseason. "It is disappointing; it's frustrating," Panthers coach Terry Murray said. "We are a much better team than we showed throughout the series. We just didn't get it to the level that we had to. "We have some thinking to do, some talking to do. We have to try to figure out what it is that we need to be better at." Defense will be addressed. General manager Bryan Murray, Terry's brother, already has acknowledged the problem. He tried to solve it prior to the trading deadline, but couldn't finalize a deal with the New York Islanders for defenseman Kenny Jonsson. In addition to bringing in some help, Florida would like to keep the nucleus of the team in tact. The Panthers might lose two of three goaltenders. Mikhail Shtalenkov could be picked in the expansion draft because Florida probably will protect Trevor Kidd, who played so well early in the season before injuring his shoulder. And 37-year-old Mike Vernon has an option to return to the Panthers or become an unrestricted free agent on July 1. Also, Florida has three main Group-II free agents -- left wings Ray Whitney and Peter Worrell and center Rob Niedermayer -- it will work to sign. Whitney scored 29 goals this season, second on the team to Pavel Bure, and re-signing him will be a priority despite rumors that he is unhappy in South Florida. The Panthers need a second and third scoring threat to keep teams -- like New Jersey -- from focusing so much attention on Bure. The Russian Rocket led the league with 58 goals this season, but was held to one score in the postseason. 'We were shooting for the playoffs at the beginning of the season, but when we actually made the playoffs you want to win," Bure said. "You don't want to just go out there and participate." Bure was the main reason for Florida's turnaround this season. When Bure scored, the Panthers were tough to beat. When he scored multiple goals, they were unbeatable. During the regular season, Florida was 29-10-2 when Bure scored, including 12-0 when he found the net more than once. With Bure in the lineup and out of the scoring column, the team was 10-19-4. He still needs help, though. The Panthers were a combined 64-77-33 the last two years. Bure gave them a huge boost in his first full season in South Florida. Starting the year 27-14-3, the Panthers had a 16-point lead in the Southeast Division over the Washington Capitals in mid-January. Then came the slump, going 16-19-3 the rest of the way and falling to the fifth seed in the Eastern Conference. Making matters worse, Florida drew the Devils in the first round, a team it had beaten just once in the last 10 meetings. Now it's one win in the last 14 meetings. "This was a good experience," team captain Scott Mellanby said. "You hate to lose four straight, but it was a lesson from an outstanding team and will help this team down the road. "We had a successful season. Was the postseason successful? No." Will next year be successful? "I just hope all the young players ... take an awful lot away from the series and bring it back to the season next year," Terry Murray said. "And we'll be a lot better because of it."
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