Panthers’ Coach DeBoer Pulls No Punches

If you just looked at the box score of last night’s New York Islanders\Florida Panthers game, you would probably glance over it and never think about it again. It was a 3-1 final, the Islanders winning their 3rd straight game against a recently hot Panthers team. Ho hum, another regular season game, right?

Actually, it was anything but. The Panthers played the final 5 minutes of the game without a goaltender. Trailing 3-0, coach Pete DeBoer pulled Tomas Vokoun to skate 6 on 5. Now, this game was not a “must win.” It was not earn 2 points or miss the playoffs. It was a sent message, pure and simple. Without any inside information, I can only guess at that message, but I think it was pretty clear. Out skate the Islanders, win the puck, or the score will get ugly. I have no doubt that if New York scored an empty netter with 4 minutes left, Vokoun would still be out of the net. As it happened, Florida actually scored to make the box score a little friendlier. Go figure.

During the game, Florida had chances. They controlled the puck, but they did not work like they had against Montreal, a game they won 5-1. They did not grind out goals like they did against Philadelphia, when they outlasted the Flyers 3-2. So for the last 5 minutes on the island, they were going to have to outwork the Isles or suffer an embarrassing box score.

For a rookie coach, this guy doesn’t pull punches. Benching starters early in the year, then basically cutting locker room favorite Wade Belak, DeBoer has not been intimidated by the “NHL Head Coach” tag. He has not let the culture of losing that Florida has developed over the past 9 years affect him. Coach Pete expects to win, and he expects his players to work for every win, every goal. For most of January, his team did. The Panthers went 7-1-3 before Saturday night’s game. So why get so bent out of shape over one lackluster performance? Because DeBoer cannot allow his players to get complacent. He does not want a recent run of success to lead to a sense of entitlement. He has a young team, mostly made up of players who haven’t played meaningful hockey in February in years. There can be no let up during any game if this team is going to make the playoffs, including a road game againt the lowly Islanders.

Posted by Karl Selvig on Feb 1 2009. Filed under Eastern Conference, Florida Panthers, Southeast. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.