1997–98 Florida Panthers season
1997–98 Florida Panthers | |
---|---|
Division | 6th Atlantic |
Conference | 12th Eastern |
1997–98 record | 24–43–15 |
Home record | 11–24–6 |
Road record | 13–19–9 |
Goals for | 203 |
Goals against | 256 |
Team information | |
General manager | Bryan Murray |
Coach | Doug MacLean (Oct.–Nov.) Bryan Murray (Nov.–Apr.) |
Captain | Scott Mellanby |
Arena | Miami Arena |
Average attendance | 14,703 |
Minor league affiliate(s) | Beast of New Haven Tallahassee Tiger Sharks Port Huron Border Cats |
Team leaders | |
Goals | Ray Whitney (32) |
Assists | Robert Svehla (34) |
Points | Ray Whitney (61) |
Penalty minutes | Paul Laus (263) |
Plus/minus | Ray Whitney (+10) |
Wins | John Vanbiesbrouck (18) |
Goals against average | John Vanbiesbrouck (2.87) |
The 1997–98 Florida Panthers season was the Panthers' fifth season. After making the Stanley Cup playoffs in 1997, the Panthers failed to qualify for the playoffs.
Offseason
Regular season
The Panthers' penalty kill struggled during the regular season and they allowed the most power-play goals in the NHL (82) and had the lowest penalty-kill percentage (79.65%). They also tied the Chicago Blackhawks, New York Islanders and Pittsburgh Penguins for the most short-handed goals allowed, with 16.[1]
On November 26, 1997, the Panthers defeated the Boston Bruins at home by a score of 10–5.[2] Veteran forward Ray Sheppard had a hat trick in the game. It was the first time in franchise history that the Panthers had scored 10 goals in a regular-season game.[3] It also came exactly one year after the last NHL team had scored 10 goals in a regular-season game, as the Edmonton Oilers had defeated their provincial rival Calgary Flames on the road by a score of 10–1 on November 26, 1996.[4]
Final standings
No. | CR | GP | W | L | T | GF | GA | Pts | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 1 | New Jersey Devils | 82 | 48 | 23 | 11 | 225 | 166 | 107 |
2 | 3 | Philadelphia Flyers | 82 | 42 | 29 | 11 | 242 | 193 | 95 |
3 | 4 | Washington Capitals | 82 | 40 | 30 | 12 | 219 | 202 | 92 |
4 | 10 | New York Islanders | 82 | 30 | 41 | 11 | 212 | 225 | 71 |
5 | 11 | New York Rangers | 82 | 25 | 39 | 18 | 197 | 231 | 68 |
6 | 12 | Florida Panthers | 82 | 24 | 43 | 15 | 203 | 256 | 63 |
7 | 13 | Tampa Bay Lightning | 82 | 17 | 55 | 10 | 151 | 269 | 44 |
R | Div | GP | W | L | T | GF | GA | Pts | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | New Jersey Devils | ATL | 82 | 48 | 23 | 11 | 225 | 166 | 107 |
2 | Pittsburgh Penguins | NE | 82 | 40 | 24 | 18 | 228 | 188 | 98 |
3 | Philadelphia Flyers | ATL | 82 | 42 | 29 | 11 | 242 | 193 | 95 |
4 | Washington Capitals | ATL | 82 | 40 | 30 | 12 | 219 | 202 | 92 |
5 | Boston Bruins | NE | 82 | 39 | 30 | 13 | 221 | 194 | 91 |
6 | Buffalo Sabres | NE | 82 | 36 | 29 | 17 | 211 | 187 | 89 |
7 | Montreal Canadiens | NE | 82 | 37 | 32 | 13 | 235 | 208 | 87 |
8 | Ottawa Senators | NE | 82 | 34 | 33 | 15 | 193 | 200 | 83 |
9 | Carolina Hurricanes | NE | 82 | 33 | 41 | 8 | 200 | 219 | 74 |
10 | New York Islanders | ATL | 82 | 30 | 41 | 11 | 212 | 225 | 71 |
11 | New York Rangers | ATL | 82 | 25 | 39 | 18 | 197 | 231 | 68 |
12 | Florida Panthers | ATL | 82 | 24 | 43 | 15 | 203 | 256 | 63 |
13 | Tampa Bay Lightning | ATL | 82 | 17 | 55 | 10 | 151 | 269 | 44 |
Divisions: ATL – Atlantic, NE – Northeast
bold – Qualified for playoffs
Schedule and results
1997–98 regular season[6] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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October: 3–6–3 (home: 1–2–2; road: 2–4–1)
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November: 5–7–2 (home: 2–7–1; road: 3–0–1)
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December: 6–7–1 (home: 1–4–1; road: 5–3–0)
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January: 4–5–5 (home: 4–0–1; road: 0–5–4)
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February: 0–4–1 (home: 0–2–1; road: 0–2–0)
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March: 3–10–0 (home: 1–5–0; road: 2–5–0)
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April: 3–4–3 (home: 2–4–0; road: 1–0–3)
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Legend:
Win (2 points) Loss (0 points) Tie (1 point) |
Player statistics
Scoring
- Position abbreviations: C = Center; D = Defense; G = Goaltender; LW = Left Wing; RW = Right Wing
- † = Joined team via a transaction (e.g., trade, waivers, signing) during the season. Stats reflect time with the Panthers only.
- ‡ = Left team via a transaction (e.g., trade, waivers, release) during the season. Stats reflect time with the Panthers only.
No. | Player | Pos | Regular season | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
GP | G | A | Pts | +/- | PIM | |||
14 | Ray Whitney† | LW | 68 | 32 | 29 | 61 | 10 | 28 |
15 | Dave Gagner | C | 78 | 20 | 28 | 48 | −21 | 55 |
24 | Robert Svehla | D | 79 | 9 | 34 | 43 | −3 | 113 |
27 | Scott Mellanby | RW | 79 | 15 | 24 | 39 | −14 | 127 |
19 | Radek Dvorak | RW | 64 | 12 | 24 | 36 | −1 | 33 |
26 | Ray Sheppard‡ | RW | 61 | 14 | 17 | 31 | −13 | 21 |
9 | Kirk Muller | LW | 70 | 8 | 21 | 29 | −14 | 54 |
11 | Bill Lindsay | RW | 82 | 12 | 16 | 28 | −2 | 80 |
25 | Viktor Kozlov† | C | 46 | 12 | 11 | 23 | −1 | 14 |
55 | Ed Jovanovski | D | 81 | 9 | 14 | 23 | −12 | 158 |
51 | David Nemirovsky | RW | 41 | 9 | 12 | 21 | −3 | 8 |
17 | Steve Washburn | C | 58 | 11 | 8 | 19 | −6 | 32 |
5 | Gord Murphy | D | 79 | 6 | 11 | 17 | −3 | 46 |
22 | Dino Ciccarelli† | RW | 28 | 5 | 11 | 16 | −2 | 28 |
21 | Tom Fitzgerald‡ | RW | 69 | 10 | 5 | 15 | −4 | 57 |
44 | Rob Niedermayer | C | 33 | 8 | 7 | 15 | −9 | 41 |
23 | Chris Wells | C | 61 | 5 | 10 | 15 | 4 | 47 |
3 | Paul Laus | D | 77 | 0 | 11 | 11 | −5 | 293 |
10[a] | Esa Tikkanen‡ | LW | 28 | 1 | 8 | 9 | −7 | 16 |
2 | Terry Carkner | D | 74 | 1 | 7 | 8 | 6 | 63 |
6 | Jeff Norton† | D | 19 | 0 | 7 | 7 | −7 | 18 |
29 | Johan Garpenlov | LW | 39 | 2 | 3 | 5 | −6 | 8 |
7 | Rhett Warrener | D | 79 | 0 | 4 | 4 | −16 | 99 |
34 | John Vanbiesbrouck | G | 60 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 6 | |
12 | Jody Hull‡ | RW | 21 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 4 |
16 | Ryan Johnson | C | 10 | 0 | 2 | 2 | −4 | 0 |
8 | Dallas Eakins | D | 23 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 44 |
12 | Chris Allen | D | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
30 | Mark Fitzpatrick‡ | G | 12 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | |
4 | John Jakopin | D | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | −3 | 4 |
10 | Dave Lowry‡ | LW | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | −1 | 2 |
1 | Kirk McLean† | G | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
1 | Kevin Weekes | G | 11 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
28 | Peter Worrell | LW | 19 | 0 | 0 | 0 | −4 | 153 |
Goaltending
- † = Joined team via a transaction (e.g., trade, waivers, signing) during the season. Stats reflect time with the Panthers only.
- ‡ = Left team via a transaction (e.g., trade, waivers, release) during the season. Stats reflect time with the Panthers only.
No. | Player | Regular season | |||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
GP | W | L | T | SA | GA | GAA | SV% | SO | TOI | ||
34 | John Vanbiesbrouck | 60 | 18 | 29 | 11 | 1638 | 165 | 2.87 | .899 | 4 | 3451 |
1 | Kirk McLean† | 7 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 207 | 22 | 3.25 | .894 | 0 | 406 |
30 | Mark Fitzpatrick‡ | 12 | 2 | 7 | 2 | 265 | 32 | 3.00 | .879 | 1 | 640 |
1 | Kevin Weekes | 11 | 0 | 5 | 1 | 247 | 32 | 3.96 | .870 | 0 | 485 |
Awards and records
Milestones
Milestone | Player | Date | Ref |
---|---|---|---|
First game | Kevin Weekes | October 16, 1997 | [7] |
Peter Worrell | November 22, 1997 | ||
Ryan Johnson | December 5, 1997 | ||
John Jakopin | March 13, 1998 | ||
Chris Allen | April 18, 1998 | ||
1,000th game played | Kirk Muller | January 14, 1998 | [8] |
Transactions
Draft picks
Florida's draft picks at the 1997 NHL entry draft held at the Civic Arena in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.[9]
Round | # | Player | Nationality | College/Junior/Club team (League) |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 20 | Mike Brown | Canada | Red Deer Rebels (WHL) |
2 | 47 | Kristian Huselius | Sweden | Farjestad BK (Sweden) |
3 | 56 | Vratislav Cech | Czech Republic | Kitchener Rangers (OHL) |
3 | 74 | Nick Smith | Canada | Barrie Colts (OHL) |
4 | 95 | Ivan Novoseltsev | Russia | Krylya Sovetov (Russia) |
5 | 127 | Pat Parthenais | United States | Detroit Whalers (OHL) |
6 | 155 | Keith Delaney | Canada | Barrie Colts (OHL) |
7 | 183 | Tyler Palmer | Canada | Lake Superior State University (CCHA) |
8 | 211 | Doug Schueller | United States | Twin Cities Vulcans (USHL) |
9 | 237 | Benoit Cote | United States | Shawinigan Cataractes (QMJHL) |
See also
Notes
- ^ Tikkanen wore number 97 in his first 14 games.
References
- "Florida Panthers 1997-98 roster and scoring statistics at hockeydb.com". www.hockeydb.com. Retrieved July 2, 2023.
- "1997-98 Florida Panthers Roster, Stats, Injuries, Scores, Results, Shootouts". Hockey-Reference.com. Retrieved July 2, 2023.
- ^ "1997-98 NHL Summary".
- ^ "Boston Bruins at Florida Panthers Box Score — November 26, 1997".
- ^ "FLA Records". records.nhl.com. Retrieved July 2, 2023.
- ^ "Edmonton Oilers at Calgary Flames Box Score — November 26, 1996".
- ^ "1997–1998 Conference Standings". National Hockey League. Retrieved July 4, 2014.
- ^ "1997-98 Florida Panthers Schedule". Hockey-Reference.com. Retrieved July 2, 2023.
- ^ "1997-98 NHL Debuts". Hockey-Reference.com. Retrieved October 8, 2024.
- ^ "MULLER TO PLAY 1,000TH GAME". Sun Sentinel. January 14, 1998. Retrieved July 8, 2023.
- ^ "1997 NHL Entry Draft Picks at hockeydb.com". www.hockeydb.com. Retrieved July 9, 2023.