The Finnish Olympian didn’t have a very full stat sheet at the end of this series, but Ville Peltonen sent the ’08-’09 Panthers onto the Semifinal Round with his OT goal in Game 7. (via panthers.nhl.com)
John Vanbiesbrouck of the 3rd-seeded ’96-’97 Panthers was by far the best player in this series, but he still wasn’t good enough to lift his team to the next round. He started the series out with a 41-save shutout performance as the ’96-’97 Panthers took Game 1, 4-0. The 6th-seeded ’08-’09 Panthers wouldn’t get shutout in Game 2 as they went on to win 5-3 thanks to three goals in the second period. They had four different players register a multi-point game in the win. The ’08-’09 Panthers scored three goals in the second period, again, in Game 3 as they won 5-2 this time. Defenseman Bryan McCabe led the way offensively with a goal and three assists while David Booth netted a couple of goals. The ’96-’97 Panthers took a 3-1 lead early in the third period of Game 4 when Scott Mellanby scored just 21 seconds into the final frame. However, the ’08-’09 Panthers would rally off three unanswered goals with Richard Zednik scoring the tying marker at the 11:15 mark and Nathan Horton scoring the eventual game-winner, on the PP, at the 13:27 mark.
Now trailing 3-1 in the series, Vanbiesbrouck stepped it into high gear. After posting 40 saves in a losing effort in Game 5, he only needed 33 saves to lead the ’96-’97 Panthers to a 5-1 win while Mellanby led offensively with two goals. In Game 6, Vanbiesbrouck would finish with 51 saves on 53 shots against. Ray Sheppard scored with just about a minute and a half remaining in overtime of Game 6 to lead the ’96-’97 Panthers to a 3-2 win and force a Game 7. Then, in that Game 7, the ’96-’97 Panthers took an early lead thanks to a goal from defenseman Gord Murphy just four minutes and five seconds into the game. However, only 38 seconds later, Michael Frolik scored an unassisted goal for the ’08-’09 Panthers to tie the game. The next goal would not come for almost an hour in game time. The game went into overtime tied 1-1, and Ville Peltonen scored for the ’08-’09 Panthers four plus minutes into that overtime to complete the seeded upset and advance to the Semifinal Round. In a losing effort, Vanbiesbrouck stopped 50 of 52 shots against, another stellar performance.
| 1st Period | 2nd Period | 3rd Period | Overtime | Total | |
| ’08-’09 Panthers | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 0 |
| ’96-’97 Panthers | 0 | 1 | 3 | — | 4 |
GAME SUMMARY: ’96-’97 FLA – 4 ’08-’09 FLA – 0 (1-0 ’96-’97 FLA)
STARS OF THE GAME:
1st Star: G – John Vanbiesbrouck (’96-’97 FLA) – W 0.00 GAA 1.000 SV% (41 SV’s)
2nd Star: RW – Radek Dvorak (’96-’97 FLA) – 2 G 1 A 3 P +4 5 S
3rd Star: C – Stu Barnes (’96-’97 FLA) – 1 G 2 A 3 P +4 2 S
| 1st Period | 2nd Period | 3rd Period | Overtime | Total | |
| ’08-’09 Panthers | 2 | 3 | 0 | — | 5 |
| ’96-’97 Panthers | 2 | 1 | 0 | — | 3 |
GAME SUMMARY: ’08-’09 FLA – 5 ’96-’97 FLA – 3 (1-1)
STARS OF THE GAME:
1st Star: LW – Cory Stillman (’08-’09 FLA) – 1 G 1 A 2 P +2 1 S
2nd Star: C – Stephen Weiss (’08-’09 FLA) – 1 G 1 A 2 P +1 2 S
3rd Star: RW – Ray Sheppard (’96-’97 FLA) – 1 G 1 A 2 P +1 4 S
| 1st Period | 2nd Period | 3rd Period | Overtime | Total | |
| ’96-’97 Panthers | 1 | 0 | 1 | — | 2 |
| ’08-’09 Panthers | 1 | 3 | 1 | — | 5 |
GAME SUMMARY: ’08-’09 FLA – 5 ’96-’97 FLA – 2 (2-1 ’08-’09 FLA)
STARS OF THE GAME:
1st Star: D – Bryan McCabe (’08-’09 FLA) – 1 G 3 A 4 P +3 4 S
2nd Star: LW – David Booth (’08-’09 FLA) – 2 G 0 A 2 P Even 8 S
3rd Star: C – Stephen Weiss (’08-’09 FLA) – 1 G 1 A 2 P +2 4 S
| 1st Period | 2nd Period | 3rd Period | Overtime | Total | |
| ’96-’97 Panthers | 2 | 0 | 1 | — | 3 |
| ’08-’09 Panthers | 0 | 1 | 3 | — | 4 |
GAME SUMMARY: ’08-’09 FLA – 4 ’96-’97 FLA – 3 (3-1 ’08-’09 FLA)
STARS OF THE GAME:
1st Star: LW – David Booth (’08-’09 FLA) – 1 G 2 A 3 P -2 11 S
2nd Star: C – Nathan Horton (’08-’09 FLA) – 1 G 1 A 2 P -2 8 S
3rd Star: G – John Vanbiesbrouck (’96-’97 FLA) – L 4.00 GAA .909 SV% (40 SV’s)
| 1st Period | 2nd Period | 3rd Period | Overtime | Total | |
| ’08-’09 Panthers | 1 | 0 | 0 | — | 1 |
| ’96-’97 Panthers | 2 | 1 | 2 | — | 5 |
GAME SUMMARY: ’96-’97 FLA – 5 ’08-’09 FLA – 1 (3-2 ’96-’97 FLA)
STARS OF THE GAME:
1st Star: RW – Scott Mellanby (’96-’97 FLA) – 2 G 0 A 2 P +1 7 S
2nd Star: G – John Vanbiesbrouck (’96-’97 FLA) – W 1.00 GAA .971 SV% (33 SV’s)
3rd Star: LW – Dave Lowry (’96-’97 FLA) – 1 G 1 A 2 P +2 4 S
| 1st Period | 2nd Period | 3rd Period | Overtime | Total | |
| ’96-’97 Panthers | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| ’08-’09 Panthers | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
GAME SUMMARY: ’96-’97 FLA – 3 ’08-’09 FLA – 2 (OT) (3-3)
STARS OF THE GAME:
1st Star: G – John Vanbiesbrouck (’96-’97 FLA) – W 2.00 GAA .962 SV% (51 SV’s)
2nd Star: C – Nathan Horton (’08-’09 FLA) – 0 G 2 A 2 P +1 8 S
3rd Star: G – Tomas Vokoun (’08-’09 FLA) – OTL 3.00 GAA .921 SV% (35 SV’s)
| 1st Period | 2nd Period | 3rd Period | Overtime | Total | |
| ’08-’09 Panthers | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| ’96-’97 Panthers | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
GAME SUMMARY: ’08-’09 FLA – 2 ’96-’97 FLA – 1 (OT) (4-3 ’08-’09 FLA)
STARS OF THE GAME:
1st Star: G – Tomas Vokoun (’08-’09 FLA) – W 1.00 GAA .973 SV% (36 SV’s)
2nd Star: G – John Vanbiesbrouck (’96-’97 FLA) – OTL 2.00 GAA .962 SV% (50 SV’s)
3rd Star: C – Michael Frolik (’08-’09 FLA) – 1 G 0 A 1 P +1 7 S
That wraps up the First Round of the 2015 Florida Panthers Qualifying Tournament!
