Panthers Plot Prowling Loss In Stanley Cup Opener Won’t Deter Florida From Ultimate Mission Against Colorado

They’re down 1-0 to the Colorado Avalanche in the Stanley Cup finals, with a defensive style not designed for comebacks. But the Florida Panthers aren’t waving the white flag - or a red knob, either.

OK, so the plug was pulled on the power play in their 3-1 loss in Game 1, and goaltender John Vanbiesbrouck proved he will allow a goal in June.

The deny-and-delay defense didn’t generate turnovers or scoring chances, and team owner Wayne Huizenga’s wife was warned not to dare throw any of those nasty plastic rats.

Problems, problems everywhere for the Panthers, even down to the color of the knob on Vanbiesbrouck’s stick. It was Panthers red for three years, but the NHL invoked a seldom-enforced rule by forcing him to make it a neutral white a few minutes before game time Tuesday.

Some Panthers suggested the Avalanche were behind the last-minute subterfuge; others were told the red knob interfered with Fox TV’s puck-tracking gimmick.

“You mean the color? No, we didn’t know anything about it,” the Avs’ Joe Sakic said.

Coach Doug MacLean was irritated by the mini-controversy and fought the change, but wouldn’t label it as even a distraction - especially with an even-more-important Game 2 awaiting today.

Win, and the Panthers will leave Denver’s mile-high altitude with the split they wanted, despite a power play that was 0 for 5 in Game 1 and is a league-worst 12 for 98 in the playoffs. Lose, and they will essentially be forced to sweep Games 3 and 4 in Miami.

“We have a group that doesn’t complain very much,” MacLean said. “We know what has to be done. We’re excited about (tonight).”

Still, MacLean injected some off-day excitement into a series that was essentially controversy-free in Game 1, except for the warning given Marti Huizenga by arena security that any rat-tossing would get her tossed.

MacLean also was angered by a Denver newspaper columnist’s description of his team as a talentless bunch of clutch-and-grabbers whose style of play belongs in the gutter, along with their rat mascot.

“For the league to come to us with 10 minutes prior to the faceoff, to go tell the goaltender that he has to change the knob from red to white, I was totally shocked by it,” MacLean said. “But you have to deal with those things at this time of the year.”

The rule was adopted so goaltenders wouldn’t wrap their sticks in black tape, which potentially might obscure sight of the puck.

“I’m just trying to be color coordinated,” Vanbiesbrouck said. “Three minutes before you go out for a game and they say you have to put a piece of white tape on your stick, or we’re going to call a penalty. It’s pretty uncharacteristic of the way the league operates.”

Did the controversy affect the preparation ?

“Our trainer came to me, and he was very pale at the time,” Vanbiesbrouck said. “He didn’t want to have to say anything. .. But it didn’t.”

MacLean insisted losing Game 1 shouldn’t wreck the confidence of a team that also trailed Philadelphia 2-1 and Pittsburgh before winning both series, even one not accustomed to the pressures of Stanley Cup hockey.

“I don’t see any difference in us being down 2-1 or 3-2 or 1-0,” he said. “Would I like to be up 1-0? Yes, but we know it’s going to be a long, tough series.”

Colorado right wing Scott Young wouldn’t argue.

“With Pittsburgh (in 1991), we lost the first game of every series but we won the Cup,” he said. “We know they think they can go back to their building and win two games.”