Panthers fire coach Gerard Gallant

Almost six years on, but Michael Leighton has another National Hockey League regular season win. Gerrard Gallant is out.

I realize this is a Canucks blog, but we simply have to talk about the weird firing of the Florida Panthers Head Coach.

The franchise-record 103 points and Atlantic Division title they claimed last season apparently meant nothing to his bosses, who last May fired an assistant coach and the director of hockey operations before “promoting” General Manager Dale Tallon to president of hockey operations and elevating Tom Rowe to general manager.

The Panthers are now sitting at 11 wins, 10 losses and 1 overtime loss tie this year. Viktor Stalberg got things going off a very nice pass from Matt Tennyson. And won, 3-2. Doing so may result in civil and/or criminal penalties. From there, though, Leighton made numerous huge saves to keep the game where it was.

Jonathan Marchessault and Aaron Ekblad scored for Florida (see full recap). I think you need to keep an open mind to both analytics and how best to use that information, within the context of understanding what makes a player useful just from knowing the game. The first two goals were kind of fluky. “We wanted to develop a team and build a team that was fast, could move the puck quickly, attack the offensive net, pressure the puck in all three zones”. They also signed backup goalie James Reimer to a five-year, $17 million deal.

Arizona’s Jordan Martinook is checked into the boards by Edmonton’s Matthew Benning in the first period.

Gerrard was sacked yesterday after a 3-2 loss in Carolina – a game the Panthers led 2-0 after the first period.

Stalberg cut the lead in half at 5:21 of the second, beating Reimer glove-side.

A stretch pass from Victor Rask found Skinner for a breakaway – Ekblad in pursuit – and his ninth of the season at 7:12 of the period. “Some of it is really good, but some of it, you can’t get fooled by it”.

Sunday night brought to us a lot of firsts for the Hurricanes – some good and some bad. We’ve got to tweak that a little bit.

NOTES: Florida alternate captain Jussi Jokinen played in 288 games for the Hurricanes from 2008-13. Florida LW Shawn Thornton and D Dylan McIlrath were healthy extras.

The Panthers, Viola and his front office decided, couldn’t let any more games slip away and a “change in leadership” as Viola said, was needed immediately.

Goodrow, 23, played in 14 games for the Sharks last season and recorded three assists.