Saturday, Apr. 7 3:00pm ET
Panthers' trick comes within 1:26 in third
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BOX SCORE
SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) – The Florida Panthers did not need Pavel
Bure to score his 60th goal of the season.
Kevyn Adams, Denis Shvidki and Paul Laus scored in a 1:26 span
of the third period as the Panthers beat the New York Rangers 3-0
on Saturday in the season finale for both teams.
|  | | Florida's Paul Laus, right, battles Pete Smrek for the puck in the first period Saturday. Laus would score later for the Panthers. |
Bure, who leads the NHL with 59 goals, failed in his attempt to
score 60 for the third time in his career. He was held without a
point.
"I didn't have too many great chances today," Bure said.
Roberto Luongo stopped 25 shots for his franchise-record fifth
shutout of the season. The previous mark of four was accomplished
twice by John Vanbiesbrouck.
"I was aware of it, but I wasn't really thinking about it until
there were five minutes left," Luongo said.
Adams scored his 11th goal of the season at 9:59 of the third
period, beating goalie Guy Hebert off a rebound. Shvidki scored 17
seconds later, and Laus added his first goal of the season.
The game left the Panthers with something to feel good about
after a disastrous season that came with huge expectations. The
Panthers set a franchise record with 98 points and 43 wins last
season. With a healthy Bure back, many thought the team would be
able to go deep into the playoffs.
It didn't happen. And with the team up for sale, everything
surrounding the organization is in flux.
"Obviously, missing the playoffs is a big disappointment,"
Panthers coach Duane Sutter said. "The last 12-to-14 games there
have been many low times behind closed doors."
The Rangers know that feeling. Expectations were high after New
York spent big money on Mike Richter, Theo Fleury and Vladimir
Malakhov. All three have been shelved with injuries.
"Losing Richy when we did was devastating to our club, and then
Theo a week after that," Rangers coach Ron Low said. "So did we
underachieve? Yeah, I think we did. Is there a reason for some of
it? Yeah, there's definitely a reason."
Both the Rangers and Panthers will have the offseason to think
about the reasons for their failure. But Saturday, the Panthers
were considerably more upbeat than New York.
"I guess we're leaving with a good feeling because we won,"
Bure said.
Game notes
Bure broke the NHL record for percentage of a team's goals.
Bure accounted for 29.5 percent of Florida's scores (59 of 200).
Brett Hull set the mark when he scored 27.7 percent St. Louis'
goals (86 of 310) in 1990-91. ... Even with Bure, the Panthers
finished with the fewest goals in their history, except for the
lockout season, with 200. That eclipsed the mark of 203 in 1997-98.
... With 22 wins, the Panthers finished with the fewest victories
in a full season in team history. The previous low was 24 in the
1997-98 season. ... Rangers right wing Radek Dvorak has skated in
269 consecutive games, third-best among active players. ... The
Rangers have missed the playoffs four straight years.
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NHL Scoreboard
NY Rangers Clubhouse
Florida Clubhouse
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Detroit 4
Colorado 3
Florida 3
NY Rangers 0
Philadelphia 4
Pittsburgh 3
Dallas 5
San Jose 4
Boston 4
NY Islanders 2
New Jersey 2
Montreal 0
Ottawa 5
Toronto 3
St. Louis 1
Nashville 0
Los Angeles 3
Calgary 2
Edmonton 4
Vancouver 2
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