# 1994–95 Florida Panthers season

The 1994–95 Florida Panthers season was the Panthers' second season. For the second straight year, they missed the playoffs by just one point. While the team tied for 6th in the league in goaltending behind the solid tandem of John Vanbiesbrouck and Mark Fitzpatrick and finished first in most shutouts (6), it finished last in the league in scoring with 115 goals and was shut out 5 times. The Panthers tied the Montreal Canadiens and the Ottawa Senators for fewest shorthanded goals scored (1).
The Panthers were one of only three teams in 1994–95 to have a better regular-season record on the road then at home (the other two teams were the Chicago Blackhawks and the Los Angeles Kings).

## Offseason

General manager Bob Clarke left the team to return to the Philadelphia Flyers, being named president and general manager of the Flyers on June 15. Since Clarke had to be released from his existing contract, the Panthers received the Flyers' 1994 second-round pick and cash, believed to be around $500,000, as compensation. Bryan Murray was named the team's new general manager on August 1.

## Regular season
### January

The Panthers began the lockout shortened 1994–95 season on January 21, 1995, losing on the road to the New York Islanders by a 2–1 score, as Zigmund Palffy scored two goals in just over a two-minute span in the middle of the third period. The Panthers lost their next two games, including their home opener to the Pittsburgh Penguins by a 6–5 score, and on the road to their state rivals, the Tampa Bay Lightning 3–2, before earning their first win, defeating the Lightning in the second game of a home and home series by a 4–2 score. Florida closed out the month with two wins in their last three games.
The team had a record of 3–4–0 in January, earning six points, which placed them in third place in the Atlantic Division, and seventh place in the Eastern Conference.

### February

Florida began February rather slowly, as after a 1–1 tie against the Montreal Canadiens on February 2, the club lost their next two games to extend their overall winless streak to four games. The Panthers snapped out of their slump though, as John Vanbiesbrouck stopped all 26 shots that the Philadelphia Flyers fired at him, in a 3–0 victory on February 9. The club then had a seven-game homestand, beginning on February 11 with a solid 4–3 win over the Hartford Whalers, however, their two-game winning streak ended the following night, losing 4–2 to the New Jersey Devils. The Panthers shut out the Ottawa Senators 2–0 in their next game to return to the win column, however, the team lost their last four games on the home stand, going a disappointing 2–5–0 on it. Back on the road on February 25, the Panthers snapped their losing skid, defeating the Ottawa Senators 4–1, before ending the month with a 0–0 tie against the defending Stanley Cup champions, the New York Rangers.
At the end of February, the Panthers had an overall record of 7–11–2, earning 16 points, as the club struggled on home ice, posting a 3–7–1 record in their first 11 home games. Florida was in sixth place in the Atlantic Division, and 12th in the Eastern Conference.

### March

Florida opened March with two road games, as they tied the Philadelphia Flyers 2–2 on March 2, followed by a 6–1 loss at the hands of the New Jersey Devils. On March 8, the club ended their three-game winless streak, defeating the Ottawa Senators 3–2, before heading out on the road again for two games, in which the Panthers shut out the Boston Bruins 2–0, followed by a 4–1 win over the Hartford Whalers to extend their winning streak to three games. The team returned home for a three-game home stand, where they remained hot, tying the Buffalo Sabres 1–1, soundly defeating the Washington Capitals 5–1 to extend their overall unbeaten streak to five games, before losing in overtime to the Philadelphia Flyers 4–3 on March 18. Florida then embarked on a three-game road trip, where they began with a 5–4 overtime loss to the Quebec Nordiques, before defeating the Montreal Canadiens 3–2 to get a much needed victory. The Panthers finished the trip with a 3–0 loss to the Buffalo Sabres, and were starting to fall out of the playoff race. Florida ended March with a brief two game home stand, in which they shut out the high scoring Pittsburgh Penguins 2–0, with John Vanbiesbrouck making 24 saves for the shut out, followed by a 4–4 tie against the Hartford Whalers.
The Panthers had an overall record of 13–16–4 at the end of March, earning 30 points, in which placed them fourth in the Atlantic Division, and ninth in the Eastern Conference, only one point behind the Hartford Whalers for the eighth and final playoff spot.

### April/May

The Panthers began April with a solid 4–1 road victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning on April 2, which moved the club into eighth place, however, Florida found themselves out of a playoff spot after being blown out by the New York Rangers by a 5–0 score on home ice on April 5, as the club fell into tenth spot, behind the New York Rangers and Hartford Whalers by a single point for the last post-season spot. The Panthers continued to struggle over their next three games, going 0–2–1, falling five points behind the eighth place Buffalo Sabres. The club tried to claw their way back race, going 4–1–0 in their next five games, however, Florida still remained two points out of the playoffs. Florida finished April on a three-game winless streak, posting a 0–2–1 record, which eliminated the club from post-season contention. The team finished the season with two wins, defeating the New York Rangers and Pittsburgh Penguins on the road.
The club finished the 1994–95 season with a 20–22–6 record, earning 46 points, which placed them fifth in the Atlantic Division, and ninth in the Eastern Conference, just one point behind the New York Rangers for the final playoff spot.

### Final standings

Atlantic Division :
| No. | CR | | GP | W | L | T | GF | GA | Pts |
| 1 | 2 | Philadelphia Flyers | 48 | 28 | 16 | 4 | 150 | 132 | 60 |
| 2 | 5 | New Jersey Devils | 48 | 22 | 18 | 8 | 136 | 121 | 52 |
| 3 | 6 | Washington Capitals | 48 | 22 | 18 | 8 | 136 | 120 | 52 |
| 4 | 8 | New York Rangers | 48 | 22 | 23 | 3 | 139 | 134 | 47 |
| 5 | 9 | Florida Panthers | 48 | 20 | 22 | 6 | 115 | 127 | 46 |
| 6 | 12 | Tampa Bay Lightning | 48 | 17 | 28 | 3 | 120 | 144 | 37 |
| 7 | 13 | New York Islanders | 48 | 15 | 28 | 5 | 126 | 158 | 35 |
Note: No. = Division rank, CR = Conference rank, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, GF = Goals For, GA = Goals Against, Pts = Points
 Teams that qualified for the playoffs are highlighted in bold.
Eastern Conference :
| R | | Div | GP | W | L | T | GF | GA | Pts |
| 1 | Quebec Nordiques | NE | 48 | 30 | 13 | 5 | 185 | 134 | 65 |
| 2 | Philadelphia Flyers | AT | 48 | 28 | 16 | 4 | 150 | 132 | 60 |
| 3 | Pittsburgh Penguins | NE | 48 | 29 | 16 | 3 | 181 | 158 | 61 |
| 4 | Boston Bruins | NE | 48 | 27 | 18 | 3 | 150 | 127 | 57 |
| 5 | New Jersey Devils | AT | 48 | 22 | 18 | 8 | 136 | 121 | 52 |
| 6 | Washington Capitals | AT | 48 | 22 | 18 | 8 | 136 | 120 | 52 |
| 7 | Buffalo Sabres | NE | 48 | 22 | 19 | 7 | 130 | 119 | 51 |
| 8 | New York Rangers | AT | 48 | 22 | 23 | 3 | 139 | 134 | 47 |
| 9 | Florida Panthers | AT | 48 | 20 | 22 | 6 | 115 | 127 | 46 |
| 10 | Hartford Whalers | NE | 48 | 19 | 24 | 5 | 127 | 141 | 43 |
| 11 | Montreal Canadiens | NE | 48 | 18 | 23 | 7 | 125 | 148 | 43 |
| 12 | Tampa Bay Lightning | AT | 48 | 17 | 28 | 3 | 120 | 144 | 37 |
| 13 | New York Islanders | AT | 48 | 15 | 28 | 5 | 126 | 158 | 35 |
| 14 | Ottawa Senators | NE | 48 | 9 | 34 | 5 | 117 | 174 | 23 |
Divisions: AT – Atlantic, NE – Northeast
bold – Qualified for playoffs

## Schedule and results

1994–95 regular season :
January: 3–4–0 (home: 1–2–0; road: 2–2–0)
GameResultDateScoreOpponentRecordRecap
1LJanuary 21, 19951–2@ New York Islanders (1994–95)0–1–0Recap
2LJanuary 23, 19955–6Pittsburgh Penguins (1994–95)0–2–0Recap
3LJanuary 25, 19952–3@ Tampa Bay Lightning (1994–95)0–3–0Recap
4WJanuary 26, 19954–2Tampa Bay Lightning (1994–95)1–3–0Recap
5WJanuary 28, 19952–1@ Hartford Whalers (1994–95)2–3–0Recap
6WJanuary 30, 19952–1@ Boston Bruins (1994–95)3–3–0Recap
7LJanuary 31, 19951–5New York Islanders (1994–95)3–4–0Recap :
February: 4–7–2 (home: 2–5–1; road: 2–2–1)
GameResultDateScoreOpponentRecordRecap
8TFebruary 2, 19951–1 OTMontreal Canadiens (1994–95)3–4–1Recap
9LFebruary 4, 19952–3@ Washington Capitals (1994–95)3–5–1Recap
10LFebruary 7, 19953–7@ Pittsburgh Penguins (1994–95)3–6–1Recap
11WFebruary 9, 19953–0@ Philadelphia Flyers (1994–95)4–6–1Recap
12WFebruary 11, 19954–3Hartford Whalers (1994–95)5–6–1Recap
13LFebruary 12, 19952–4New Jersey Devils (1994–95)5–7–1Recap
14WFebruary 15, 19952–0Ottawa Senators (1994–95)6–7–1Recap
15LFebruary 17, 19954–5Boston Bruins (1994–95)6–8–1Recap
16LFebruary 19, 19951–4Quebec Nordiques (1994–95)6–9–1Recap
17LFebruary 21, 19953–5New York Rangers (1994–95)6–10–1Recap
18LFebruary 23, 19952–5Montreal Canadiens (1994–95)6–11–1Recap
19WFebruary 25, 19954–1@ Ottawa Senators (1994–95)7–11–1Recap
20TFebruary 28, 19950–0 OT@ New York Rangers (1994–95)7–11–2Recap :
March: 6–5–2 (home: 3–2–1; road: 3–3–1)
GameResultDateScoreOpponentRecordRecap
21TMarch 2, 19952–2 OT@ Philadelphia Flyers (1994–95)7–11–3Recap
22LMarch 4, 19951–6@ New Jersey Devils (1994–95)7–12–3Recap
23WMarch 8, 19953–2Ottawa Senators (1994–95)8–12–3Recap
24WMarch 11, 19952–0@ Boston Bruins (1994–95)9–12–3Recap
25WMarch 12, 19954–1@ Hartford Whalers (1994–95)10–12–3Recap
26LMarch 14, 19951–2 OTBuffalo Sabres (1994–95)10–13–3Recap
27WMarch 16, 19955–1Washington Capitals (1994–95)11–13–3Recap
28LMarch 18, 19953–4 OTPhiladelphia Flyers (1994–95)11–14–3Recap
29LMarch 20, 19954–5 OT@ Quebec Nordiques (1994–95)11–15–3Recap
30WMarch 22, 19953–2@ Montreal Canadiens (1994–95)12–15–3Recap
31LMarch 24, 19950–3@ Buffalo Sabres (1994–95)12–16–3Recap
32WMarch 26, 19952–0Pittsburgh Penguins (1994–95)13–16–3Recap
33TMarch 29, 19954–4 OTHartford Whalers (1994–95)13–16–4Recap :
April: 5–6–2 (home: 3–3–1; road: 2–3–1)
GameResultDateScoreOpponentRecordRecap
34WApril 2, 19954–1@ Tampa Bay Lightning (1994–95)14–16–4Recap
35LApril 5, 19950–5New York Rangers (1994–95)14–17–4Recap
36TApril 8, 19952–2 OT@ New York Islanders (1994–95)14–17–5Recap
37LApril 12, 19951–3New York Islanders (1994–95)14–18–5Recap
38LApril 14, 19950–3@ Washington Capitals (1994–95)14–19–5Recap
39WApril 16, 19954–1Tampa Bay Lightning (1994–95)15–19–5Recap
40LApril 18, 19951–3Philadelphia Flyers (1994–95)15–20–5Recap
41WApril 20, 19951–0New Jersey Devils (1994–95)16–20–5Recap
42WApril 22, 19954–2Quebec Nordiques (1994–95)17–20–5Recap
43WApril 24, 19955–1@ Ottawa Senators (1994–95)18–20–5Recap
44LApril 26, 19950–5@ Buffalo Sabres (1994–95)18–21–5Recap
45LApril 28, 19951–3@ New Jersey Devils (1994–95)18–22–5Recap
46TApril 30, 19952–2 OTWashington Capitals (1994–95)18–22–6Recap :
May: 2–0–0 (home: 0–0–0; road: 2–0–0)
GameResultDateScoreOpponentRecordRecap
47WMay 2, 19954–3@ New York Rangers (1994–95)19–22–6Recap
48WMay 3, 19954–3@ Pittsburgh Penguins (1994–95)20–22–6Recap :
Legend:
  Win (2 points)
  Loss (0 points)
  Tie (1 point) :

## Player statistics
### Scoring

* Position abbreviations: C = Center; D = Defense; G = Goaltender; LW = Left Wing; RW = Right Wing
* † = Joined team via a transaction (e.g., trade, waivers, signing) during the season. Stats reflect time with the Panthers only.
* ‡ = Left team via a transaction (e.g., trade, waivers, release) during the season. Stats reflect time with the Panthers only.
| No. | Player | Pos | Regular season | Regular season | Regular season | Regular season | Regular season | Regular season |
| No. | Player | Pos | GP | G | A | Pts | +/- | PIM |
| 26 | Jesse Belanger | C | 47 | 15 | 14 | 29 | −5 | 18 |
| 14 | Stu Barnes | C | 41 | 10 | 19 | 29 | 7 | 8 |
| 27 | Scott Mellanby | RW | 48 | 13 | 12 | 25 | −16 | 90 |
| 5 | Gord Murphy | D | 46 | 6 | 16 | 22 | −14 | 24 |
| 10 | Dave Lowry | LW | 45 | 10 | 10 | 20 | −3 | 25 |
| 12 | Jody Hull | RW | 46 | 11 | 8 | 19 | −1 | 8 |
| 11 | Bill Lindsay | LW | 48 | 10 | 9 | 19 | 1 | 46 |
| 21 | Tom Fitzgerald | RW | 48 | 3 | 13 | 16 | −3 | 31 |
| 20 | Brian Skrudland | C | 47 | 5 | 9 | 14 | 0 | 88 |
| 18 | Mike Hough | LW | 48 | 6 | 7 | 13 | 1 | 38 |
| 6 | Jason Woolley† | D | 34 | 4 | 9 | 13 | −1 | 18 |
| 29 | Johan Garpenlov† | RW | 27 | 3 | 9 | 12 | 4 | 0 |
| 44 | Rob Niedermayer | C | 48 | 4 | 6 | 10 | −13 | 36 |
| 22 | Bob Kudelski | RW | 26 | 6 | 3 | 9 | 2 | 2 |
| 7 | Brian Benning | D | 24 | 1 | 7 | 8 | −6 | 18 |
| 28 | Magnus Svensson | D | 19 | 2 | 5 | 7 | 5 | 10 |
| 19 | Andrei Lomakin | LW | 31 | 1 | 6 | 7 | −5 | 6 |
| 3 | Paul Laus | D | 37 | 0 | 7 | 7 | 12 | 138 |
| 25 | Geoff Smith | D | 47 | 2 | 4 | 6 | −5 | 22 |
| 15 | Gaetan Duchesne† | LW | 13 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 2 |
| 16 | Randy Moller | D | 17 | 0 | 3 | 3 | −5 | 16 |
| 24 | Brent Severyn‡ | D | 9 | 1 | 1 | 2 | −3 | 37 |
| 24 | Robert Svehla | D | 5 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 0 |
| 2 | Joe Cirella | D | 20 | 0 | 1 | 1 | −7 | 21 |
| 8 | Dallas Eakins | D | 17 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 35 |
| 34 | John Vanbiesbrouck | G | 37 | 0 | 1 | 1 | | 6 |
| 4 | Keith Brown | D | 13 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| 23 | Jeff Daniels | LW | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 30 | Mark Fitzpatrick | G | 15 | 0 | 0 | 0 | | 0 |
| 42 | Jamie Linden | RW | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | −1 | 17 |
| 38 | Stephane Richer | D | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 17 | Dave Tomlinson | C | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | −2 | 0 |

### Goaltending

| No. | Player | Regular season | Regular season | Regular season | Regular season | Regular season | Regular season | Regular season | Regular season | Regular season | Regular season |
| No. | Player | GP | W | L | T | SA | GA | GAA | SV% | SO | TOI |
| 34 | John Vanbiesbrouck | 37 | 14 | 15 | 4 | 1000 | 86 | 2.47 | .914 | 4 | 2087 |
| 30 | Mark Fitzpatrick | 15 | 6 | 7 | 2 | 361 | 36 | 2.64 | .900 | 2 | 819 |

## Awards and records
### Milestones

| Milestone | Player | Date |
| First game | Jamie Linden | February 9, 1995 |
| First game | Magnus Svensson | March 20, 1995 |
| First game | Robert Svehla | April 20, 1995 |

## Draft picks

Florida's draft picks at the 1994 NHL entry draft.
| Round | Pick | Player | Nationality | College/junior/club team |
| 1 | 1 | Ed Jovanovski (D) | Canada | Windsor Spitfires (OHL) |
| 2 | 27 | Rhett Warrener (D) | Canada | Saskatoon Blades (WHL) |
| 2 | 31 | Jason Podollan (RW) | Canada | Spokane Chiefs (WHL) |
| 2 | 36 | Ryan Johnson (C) | Canada | Thunder Bay Flyers (USHL) |
| 4 | 84 | David Nemirovsky (RW) | Canada | Ottawa 67's (OHL) |
| 5 | 105 | David Geris (D) | Canada | Windsor Spitfires (OHL) |
| 7 | 157 | Matt O'Dette (RW) | Canada | Kitchener Rangers (OHL) |
| 8 | 183 | Jason Boudrias (C) | Canada | Laval Titan (QMJHL) |
| 10 | 235 | Tero Lehtera (LW) | Finland | Kiekko-Espoo (Finland) |
| 11 | 261 | Per Gustafsson (D) | Sweden | HV71 (Sweden) |
| S | 1 | Sean McCann (D) | Canada | Harvard University (ECAC) |