Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Team ends season with a 2-0 victory over Capitals.
Florida’s disappointing season ends with shutout of Capitals
WASHINGTON, D.C. — While the Miami Heat’s Jekyll and Hyde season remained alive Saturday night in the nation’s capital, the Panthers disastrous season was laid to rest as the final horn sounded in the Verizon Center on Sunday after a 2-0 victory over the powerhouse, yet indifferent Washington Capitals.
It was a meaningless scrimmage, the Capitals (55-19-8) had already clinched their second consecutive President’s Trophy for having the best record in the NHL and home ice throughout the Stanley Cup playoffs. They’re just waiting for their upcoming first-round series against Toronto on Thursday.
The Caps only motivation was to stay away from injuries, so they rested five starters and coach Barry Trotz put in backup goalie Philipp Grubauer for the third period to preserve starter Braden Holtby.
What began with so much promise Oct. 13 following a franchise-record 103-point season (47-26-9) and Atlantic Division title, the Panthers finished 35-36-11 (81 points) in sixth place with so many lingering questions.
Instead of preparing for the playoffs, the Panthers missed for the fourth time in five seasons. They flew home to South Florida where they will undergo their season-ending physicals and exit meetings Tuesday.
“Let’s get going I’m warmed up now,’’
joked goalie James Reimer after notching his second shutout in two days and 17th of his career with 38 saves.
“It’s a nice way to end a real disappointing season. I wish we were on the other side of the ice and other room right now joining the playoffs. Not the case. We battled hard all year; just didn’t go our way. We’re looking forward to next year.’’
Backup goalie Reto Berra remained home for personal reasons, so Sam Brittain was called up to back up.
The most pressing issue for the Panthers is the identity of their next coach and general manager once the official announcement comes down this week regarding the changing role of interim coach/GM Tom Rowe.
After taking over for a fired Gerard Gallant (11-9-1) on Nov. 27, Rowe finished his first NHL head-coaching stint at 24-27-10, not good enough to merit a fulltime tag according to sources.
“It’s not a good feeling, especially with the expectations being as high as they were, a very disappointing season obviously,’’ Rowe said. “Sometimes you got to take a step backwards. I know our fans are very unhappy and deservedly so, the treatment I got a little bit.
“That’s fine. We got great fans. We’re going to be back next year. That’s all I want to tell them, hang in there, like Derek [MacKenzie] said to the crowd last night, we’ll be back, we got a lot of great pieces here.
“The [offseason] changes we made were good. Maybe the chemistry didn’t click as quickly as we thought. I thought some of the injuries had an impact on how the team got out of the gate.
“We got good pieces; we got to tweak it a little bit. I’ll talk to [president of hockey operations Dale Tallon on Monday] and go over a couple of things. We’re not that far off.’’
Because forward Michael Sgarbossa sustained an upper-body injury Saturday and forward Shawn Thornton tossed his skates in the trash can after his final NHL game, the Panthers were down two forwards.
So instead of an AHL call-up they went with eight defensemen, meaning Jason Demers and Jakub Kindl played up front on the fourth line with MacKenzie centering.
It was MacKenzie who gave the Panthers a 1-0 lead at 16:47 of the second period when he scored on a shorthanded breakaway set for the captain’s sixth goal.
“Everything we’ve been through we’ll take it. This is a great group of guys,’’ MacKenzie said. “From top to bottom we’re all disappointed. I’m sure if we could change some things we would, but we can’t.
“It’s not every day I play with two defenseman. They took it in stride; it was a lot of fun.’’
Rookie Denis Malgin added a power-play goal in the third for an insurance tally.
Will the Panthers want to re-sign the iconic Jaromir Jagr to another one-year deal after the 45-year-old top-line right wing finished with a respectable 16 goals and 46 points despite the absence of his two budding star linemates, Jonathan Huberdeau and Aleksander Barkov, for a combined 71 games?
Jagr, who played in all 82 games for the first time since the 2013-14 season with the Devils, reached the 30-assist mark for the 22nd time in 23 NHL seasons.
“I’m not going to confirm yes or no,’’ Rowe said. “He produced ... he’s tremendous in the locker room and is a very good influence. That will be a decision Dale makes.’’