The Miami Herald
The big building in Broward planted between swamp and shopping during the optimistic 1990s has seen three names, two playoff series and, Thursday at 8:30 p.m., one Game 7.
The Panthers waited 12 calendar years to bring the NHL playoffs back to South Florida. They dragged clinching the Southeast Division title out to the last game of the season. Now, they?ve dragged ? or, been dragged by New Jersey ? to the last game of the NHL playoffs? first round.
?We haven?t made it easy on ourselves all season long, so why now?? Panthers winger Kris Versteeg said Wednesday.
Versteeg still felt the sting of an uncalled trip as he cut for the Jersey net in overtime of Tuesday?s Game 6 ? ?Guess the rules changed a bit.?
Then again, considering an uncalled trip on the Panthers? Sean Bergenheim started the sequence leading to the Panthers? second goal Tuesday, perhaps it?s another case of things evening out. That?s the way things have gone in this series in which the cheap shots generally have been confined to Twitter spats between non-combatants over plastic rats.
Each team took a 3-0 lead in the first two games and saw it reduced to 3-2 before hanging on to win. Each team has scored 15 goals. Both No.?1 goalies got yanked in Game 3 and both produced shutouts the next time they hit the ice ? New Jersey?s Martin Brodeur in Game 4 and the Panthers? Jose Theodore in Game 5. Speaking of Theodore, who didn?t play in Game 6 because of an undisclosed injury, he went through a half-hour practice Wednesday.
?You want to get back in there. You feel good about where your game is at and then there?s a let down,? Theodore said. ?Obviously, it was frustrating to watch last game. But, today?s a new day and it?s good to be back on the ice.
?When you?re a kid, when you play hockey, you imagine Game 7 in the Stanley Cup playoffs. It?s a game everybody wants to be part of and help the team win.?
Dineen, who has been coy about his choice of goaltender all season, said: ?I just watched him for a few minutes and he looks pretty good out there this morning, so that?s encouraging for us. It gives us that option to go with him tomorrow night and that will be a health-based decision.?
Questioned further, Dineen said the Panthers trusted both Theodore and Scott Clemmensen.
?Theo?s been our go-to guy and if he?s available,? Dineen said, ?he?ll be the one running with it.?
Meanwhile, defenseman Jason Garrison, whose cannon shot helped the Panthers blast holes in New Jersey?s league-best penalty-killing unit over the first three games, said he?d likely be a game-time decision.
Game time is 8:30 p.m., as the NHL chose to stagger the starts of this game and the Senators-Rangers Game 7.
?It?s going to be a long day,? Versteeg said. ?You want to get started. But you do what?s best for the league. It?s a great time for us and great time to showcase our game.?
History favors neither team. Despite New Jersey?s four Stanley Cup Finals and three Cups since 1993, the Martin Brodeur Era, the franchise is only 6-7 in Game 7s, 3-5 on the road. And all those Cups and Game 7 wins came before the lockout. The post-lockout Devils suffered their own Collapse of 2009 when Carolina scored twice in the last 80 seconds for a 4-3 Game 7 win at New Jersey.
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