head coach: Doug MacLean

roster: C - Kirk Muller, Rob Niedermayer, Dave Gagner, Steve Washburn, Chris Wells. LW - Johan Garpenlov, Dave Lowry, Bill Lindsay, Radek Dvorak, David Nemirovsky. RW - Scott Mellanby, Ray Sheppard, Jody Hull, Tom Fitzgerald. D - Robert Svehla, Gord Murphy, Ed Jovanovski, Paul Laus, Terry Carkner, Rhett Warrener, Dallas Eakins. G - John Vanbiesbrouck, Mark Fitzpatrick, Kevin Weekes.

injuries: Kevin Weekes, g (damaged nerve & cut pinky finger, 1 to 3 weeks); Radek Dvorak, rw (broken wrist, 4 weeks); Steve Washburn, c (shoulder, 1 weeks); Esa Tikkanen, lw (broken leg, 6 to 8 weeks).

transactions: Acquired winger Ray Whitney (wears #14) from the Edmonton Oilers off waivers. Acquired left wing Viktor Kozlov (wears #25) and a fifth-round draft pick from San Jose for Dave Lowry and a first-round 1998 pick.

standings:

Eastern Conference - Atlantic Division   
Team         GP   W   L   T   PTS   GF   GA   
Philadelphia 22  13   6   3    29   68   51
New Jersey   19  14   5   0    28   60   34
Washington   21  12   7   2    26   60   48
NY Islanders 20   8   8   4    20   56   50
NY Rangers   20   6   7   7    19   51   50
Florida      19   6   9   4    16   42   57
Tampa Bay    20   2  16   2     6   34   72

game results:

11/05 New Jersey      L 4-2 
11/06 at Buffalo      W 4-2 
11/09 Washington      W 3-2 
11/12 NY Islanders    T 2-2 
11/14 Philadelphia    L 5-2 
11/15 at NY Islanders W 1-0 

team news:

by Eric Seiden, Florida Correspondent

"It's a hockey night in South Florida, and here come your Panthers," screamed the announcer to the empty stands. In true Miami fashion, fans stay away from a losing team in droves. Of all the home games, the only one where all the sold-out seats were full was the Flyers game. However, play from newly acquired Ray Whitney may change all that. In his first five games as a Panther, he has five points; this is something the Panthers need if he can maintain his consistency.

In the game against the New York Islanders on 11/15, Mark Fitzpatrick followed up an exciting win in Buffalo with a shutout against the Islanders. The win against the Islanders was his 100th career win, and one that made everyone happy. However this goal wasn't as big for Fitzpatrick as his win on 11/6 in Buffalo where he snapped a year long winless streak, gaining his first win since 12-23-1996. With the monkey off his back he is beginning to shine.

Although the game against the Islanders was exciting in that it was Mark Fitzpatrick's 100th win, it did manage to bore the fans in to a stupor as what may go down as one of the most boring games in Panthers history.

While the game in Washington was a nice win, it was especially sweet for team captain Scott Mellanby who scored his 500th career point in that game. The game looked to be a tie until the remaining 29 seconds on the clock. Often the Panthers are criticized for not making the clutch play. Rob Niedermayer saved the day scoring the game-winner with 29 seconds on the clock.

A special thanks to Capitals goalie Bill Ranford who was kind enough to alert the Panthers to the crumpled David Nemirovsky behind the goal. The Panthers didn't notice, and Ranford actually skated towards the Panthers bench and shouted the medic down. Class act there. Although everyone was scared as Nemirovsky was carried off the ice, it turned out to be nothing more than a bad bruise.

In ongoing news, Kirk Muller still looks flat as does Ray Sheppard who can't seem to keep his eye on the puck or his stick on the ice. Dave Gagner still looks nice on the ice and continues to impress. We won't even begin to talk about Ed Jovanovski, who has replaced Chris Wells as my (and many fans) personal whipping boy, although during the 11/5 Islanders game he certainly seemed to make an effort to get out of his year-long "let's try to hurt my team" mode of playing.

Ray Whitney, wearing former Panther Stu Barnes' #14, has managed to impress the fans enough with his aggressive style of play that nobody has taken umbrage at his theft of the number. Newly acquired Viktor Kozlov, using Geoff Smith's #25, has had only two games to prove himself and the jury's still out.

The Flyers game, characterized as the grudge match of the year because of Eric Lindros' cheap shot on Niedermayer earlier this year, turned out to be a hard played, but non-violent game. Paul Laus' threat to remove Lindros from the planet never materialized. Fifty-five seconds into the game, Niedermayer went to the box and cooled off. Though the score shows a big Philadelphia win, the margin was slim until the last period when Philadelphia came back into the game strongly. The game was a 2-2 tie until then. The Panthers played their best game all season and were simply beat up by the Flyers.

Goalie Kevin Weekes, a fan favorite from the minors, is still nursing the finger Kirk Muller stepped on accidentally. What was originally thought to be a cut finger has turned out to be some minor nerve damage and his recovery time is questionable.

In other news, several Panthers have been spotted playing with CCM jerseys instead of their official team uniforms made by Starter. Nobody is particularly sure why. The Florida Panthers will put season tickets on sale for the new arena on 11-23 and they have been making the hot and heavy push to all interested fans. While season ticket sales this year have been perfect (the arena is sold out of season tickets), current play has made the number of people moving to the new arena less than spectacular. Ticket prices will go up an average of $6 per seat at the new arena. Club seats are being introduced at $61 per game.

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