Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Fans give Thornton a fond farewell
SUNRISE — There were goodies and giveaways on Fan Appreciation Night.
Most of all, the Panthers’ home finale Saturday was about goodbyes.
Foremost and fondest was veteran enforcer Shawn Thornton playing in his 705th and final NHL game with family and friends watching from a private suite at the BB&T Center. He will not play in today’s season-ender at Washington.
Everyone who came to say farewell to the popular Thornton and put a wrap on a forgettable Panthers season got a poster. The bonus prize — one might say a major surprise — was a 3-0 victory over the Buffalo Sabres to take into the offseason, ending a six-game losing streak.
Surprising, considering the Panthers have given their fans little to appreciate at the BB&T Center, where their 39 points going into Saturday (18-19-3) ranked 28th out of 30 in the league for points at home.
This one was worth watching as Jonathan Huberdeau provided two unusual goals, including one of the strangest of any season.
That came after Jonathan Marchessault did most of the work getting the puck into the crease while goalie Robin Lehner sprawled on the ice and Huberdeau slid past him. The Panthers forward reached out and backhanded the puck into the cage with him for his ninth goal.
It was the second of two goals in the second period, after Nick Bjugstad got the Panthers on the board with his seventh at 7:45 of the period.
Huberdeau made it 3-0 early in the third period when he skated around behind the Buffalo goal and banked his 10th goal in off the shin guard of Sabres defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen.
Still, the most compelling storyline was Thornton’s final game, if you discount the battle for 13th
place in the Eastern Conference between also-rans — the win moved the Panthers one point ahead with 79 points.
Thornton, 39, skated on the opening shift and later received a standing ovation when a tribute video was played on the big board showing some of his fights as well as him engaging in charity work.
Still, Thornton’s swan song wasn’t what he would have scripted. Considering the way the season fell short of expectations, he said Saturday morning that a victory in his finale would amount to putting lipstick on a pig.
“I’d rather my last game was a heart-wrenching loss in the playoffs or ecstatic win with the trophy over my head,” he said. “But we are defined with a new job on the business side of the Panthers’ operation, there is a lot of uncertainty for others on a team that fell dismally short of expectations after winning the Atlantic Division a year ago.
Interim coach Tom Rowe was behind the bench for the final time at the BB&T Center. After fans hired a banner plane with a message calling for his firing at a game earlier in the week, sources confirmed that the embattled coach will not be retained in the role next season.
The plane returned before Saturday’s game with a more uplifting message: “We [heart] the Panthers, we’ll be back.”
It remains to be seen which players will and won’t return from this underachieving team. Will Jaromir Jagr, now 45, be back?
Even though a number of players signed long-term contracts prior to the season, Rowe said recently that is no guarantee all of them will play those contracts out for Florida. The Panthers will lose a quality player in the expansion draft.
This night began like many games this season as the Panthers created numerous scoring chances but had trouble finishing.
Huberdeau’s strange goal made up a baffling near-miss in the first period on a breakaway when Lehner got enough of his right pad on the puck to get it to somehow stop an inch from the line.
With Jussi Jokinen out with an injury, Thornton received the honor of wearing an A as one of the alternate captains in his final game.
Although best known for his willingness to drop the gloves and fight the toughest opponent (he has done so 169 times in the NHL, according to Hockeyfights.com), Thornton has played 20 professional seasons and contributed to two Stanley Cup champions. He is the only player who began his career after expansion to play more than 700 games in the NHL and more than 600 in the AHL.
Although the seven seasons in the minors were a grind and didn’t pay well, he said he always recognized “it was still the best job in the world.
“Did I enjoy fighting 36 times a year some years? No. But it got me to where I am and I don’t have any complaints or regrets.”