Florida Panthers History and Information
Blockbuster Video magnate Wayne Huizenga was awarded an NHL franchise for his native Miami in 1992. The team played at the Miami Arena, and its first major stars were New York Rangers goalie castoff John Vanbiesbrouck, rookie Rob Niedermayer, and Scott Mellanby, who scored 30 goals. They had one of the most successful first seasons of any expansion team, finishing one point below .500 and narrowly missing out on the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.
After missing another close brush with the playoffs in 1994-95, coach Roger Neilson was fired and replaced by Doug MacLean. They then acquired Ray Sheppard from the San Jose Sharks on the trade deadline in 1996 and they looked towards the playoffs for the first time.
The 1996 playoffs were a dream for the Panthers. They upset the Boston Bruins, Philadelphia Flyers and Pittsburgh Penguins to reach the Stanley Cup finals. South Florida was euphoric. Against Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, series comebacks were part of the astonishment.
It came to an end in the Stanley Cup finals though. Their opponents, the Colorado Avalanche, would sweep the Panthers on Uwe Krupp's third-overtime goal in game 4. The next season, a team ravaged by injuries would lose to the New York Rangers on the first round. More injuries caused the team to have their worst record to that point in 1997-98.
The Panthers moved into the National Car Rental Center (now known as Office Depot Center) in 1998, the new arena being the result of bickering and threatening to move the team. In 1999, they acquired Pavel Bure (the "Russian Rocket"), in a blockbuster trade with the Vancouver Canucks. They would reach the playoffs again in 2000 riding on his 58 goals, losing in the first round to the eventual Stanley Cup Champion New Jersey Devils.
The team slumped in the 2000-01 NHL season despite a 59 goal season from Bure. The following season, 2001-02, the Panthers would have their worst record ever. Bure struggled despite being reunited with his brother Valeri, and was traded to the New York Rangers on the 2002 trading deadline.
Tickets To Watch Other Popular Events
MLB Baseball: Get tickets to your favorite baseball games. 2-tickets.com has Kansas City Royals tickets and Cleveland Indians tickets. We also have tickets to the Oakland Athletics and the New York Mets, tickets to the Cincinnati Reds, the Los Angeles Dodgers, Anaheim Angels tickets, and tickets to the World Series, as well as every other MLB team.
NFL Football: We have your ticket to every NFL Football game. We have tickets to the Cleveland Browns, tickets to the New England Patriots, and the San Diego Chargers. In addition we have tickets to the Indianapolis Colts, tickets to the Kansas City Chiefs and the Atlanta Falcons. We sell tickets to the New York Giants and tickets to the Super Bowl. We also sell NFL Playoff tickets and Pro Bowl tickets.
Soccer: Get tickets to your favorite soccer games. 2-tickets.com has Arsenal tickets, Tottenham Hotspur tickets, West Bromwich Albion tickets and Aston Villa tickets. We also have tickets to Birmingham City and Blackburn Rovers, tickets to Bolton Wanderers, tickets to Charlton Athletic, and tickets to Chelsea and Crystal Palace. You can also buy tickets to Everton, tickets to Fulham and tickets to Liverpool. In addition, we have Manchester City tickets, Middlesbrough tickets and Newcastle United tickets. If you're in the market for English Premiership tickets, give us a call to buy tickets to Manchester United, tickets to Norwich City, tickets to Portsmouth or tickets to Southampton. We have all the English Premiership League tickets, including tickets to the FA Cup Final.
In business since 2000