Gerard Gallant, a coach of the year finalist last season after guiding the Florida Panthers to a division title, reportedly was fired Sunday night, 22 games into this season.
Gallant was 96-65-25 in parts of three seasons with the Panthers. Tom Rowe will take over as coach, said the source. He would become the Panthers' 14th coach, and the fifth person to be behind the Florida bench in the past five years. He was promoted to general manager before the season, and coached the Panthers' AHL teams in San Antonio and Portland, Maine in recent years.
Gallant spoke to reporters, as normal, after Sunday's 3-2 loss to Carolina, talking about how five poor second-period minutes out of 60 was the team's undoing in a game in which the Panthers led 2-0. Shortly after that is when he apparently was told of the dismissal, and Gallant then waited for a taxi after his luggage was unloaded from the buses that were to carry the Panthers to the airport.
They went one way. He went another.
Florida (11-10-1) next plays Tuesday night in Chicago.
Arizona 2, Edmonton 1: Jamie McGinn's tiebreaking goal with 3:44 left helped the visiting Coyotes top the Oilers for the 21st time in 25 meetings.
Ottawa 2, N.Y. Rangers 0: Craig Anderson made 32 saves for his third shutout of the season, and Jean-Gabriel Pageau and Zach Smith scored in the second period.
Winnipeg 3, Nashville 0: Connor Hellebuyck made a season-high 42 saves as host Winnipeg ended a five-game losing streak.
