Panthers Won A Shootout?!

A shootout win? Who? THE PANTHERS?!

Last night's dramatic shootout win was worth way more than the price I paid for my seats in section 122. As usual in any Panthers vs. Rangers game at the BAC, there was a huge crowd in attendance with plenty of Rangers fans there. Last night I felt that there was about a 70:30 ratio of Panther fans to Rangers fans as opposed to the usual 50:50 ratio during the holidays. I had the pleasure of sitting behind 4 drunk, hilarious Panther fans seemingly having a "guys night out". To my right I had an obnoxious Rangers fan (of course) and his girlfriend, but I didn't mind, it makes it more fun to sit next to those loudmouth fans, especially when your team is the one that wins in the end of it all. Watching the first period was frustrating. The Panthers had so many opportunities but Lundquvist was able to stop all the Panthers' shots during the first period. The only goal of the first period was Fredrik Sjostrom's goal for the Rangers, which he scored by jamming at Tomas Vokoun's leg until it went in. Shortly after, Gregory Campbell got into a fight with Dubinsky and each got 5 minute majors. Those were the only penalties of the first period. Two and a half minutes into the 2nd period, Frolik was able to get a slap shot past Lundqvist, tying the game at 1-1. Boynton was called for an instigator penalty, a 5 minute fighting major, and a 10 minute misconduct after his fight with Paul Mara. 17 minutes of penalties just because he stuck up for a fellow teammate was WAY too harsh in my opinion. Apparently the rest of the Panther fans at the BAC agreed because once the penalties were announced, the crowd erupted with BOOOOs. I noticed that the 4 drunk Panther fans in front of me were missing for most of the 2nd period. They returned early in the 3rd period with 3 Panthers Ice Dancer calendars and a hockey stick. One of the guys turned around to us and told us that his friend won all that free stuff. I asked him how and he said that his friend went to go use the restroom and a tube must have broken or something because he got splashed a lot of water when he flushed, so he complained to customer service and they gave him all that free stuff. He handed us one of the Ice Dancers calendars and told us to keep it. There was no scoring in the third period, but David Booth was called for a marginal hooking penalty late in the 3rd. The Panthers were able to kill it off and we were headed to OT. OT went by, no penalties were called, and at the end of those 5 minutes I thought "Great, a shootout. We're done. Oh well, at least we got a point." The crowd at the BAC was on their feet. The Panthers selected to shoot first. Lundqvist was able to top Stillman, Horton and Weiss. Vokoun was able to stop Naslund, Dawes, and Callahan. For the 4th round of the shootout, Zednik was up to shoot and.. HE SCORED! We began cheering so loud, and our drunk friends turned around for the high-fives. All Vokoun had to do was stop the last Rangers shooter and the Panthers would win and get the 2nd point in the standings. I covered my mouth and nose with my hands as I watched him start skating towards Vokoun. He took the shot, Vokoun made the save! I started jumping up and down, giving high fives, and screaming as the Panther fans at the BAC erupted with cheers while the Rangers fans walked towards the exit.

Just when you thought the Panthers had done the impossible by coming back from a 4-1 deficit against the Leafs and shutting out the Hurricanes 5-0 in Raleigh just the night before, they topped it yet again.... THE PANTHERS FINALLY WON A SHOOTOUT!!