Game 1 was the first of two overtime games in this series. Scott Mellanby scored for the top-seeded ’95-’96 Panthers to tie the game 1-1 in the third period. Then, late in overtime, Ray Sheppard scored on the PP to give the ’95-’96 Panthers a 2-1 win. They would not need overtime in Game 2 as they scored four goals in the first period and went on to win 5-1 for a 2-0 series lead. John Vanbiesbrouck stopped 30 of 31 shots against for the ’95-’96 Panthers in the win. The 5th-seeded ’93-’94 Panthers held a 2-1 lead in the second of Game 3 when Johan Garpenlov scored to tie the game for the ’95-’96 Panthers. Then, seven and a half minutes into the third, Stu Barnes scored for the ’93-’94 Panthers to give them a 3-2 lead and they held on for their first win of the series. The ’93-’94 Panthers exploded for five goals in the first period of Game 4 with Andrei Lomakin netting a hat trick in that opening period. They went on to win 7-3 as Scott Mellanby tallied four assists to help lead the way offensively with Lomakin.

Game 5 was a long one. In the second period, Mellanby scored with just over five minutes left in the period to give the ’93-’94 Panthers a 4-2 lead. However, Barnes scored in the final minute to get the ’95-’96 Panthers within one. Then, they scored two goals in 10 minutes to flip the scoreboard and take a 5-4 lead. However, three plus minutes after they took the lead, defenseman Gord Murphy scored for the ’93-’94 Panthers to re-tie the game. There would not be another goal until 14 seconds into the THIRD overtime when Garpenlov scored to give the ’95-’96 Panthers a 3-2 series win. The two teams combined for 159 shots on goal. Vanbiesbrouck, the starter in net for both teams, stopped 70 of 76 for the ’93-’94 Panthers in the loss and stopped 78 of 83 for the ’95-’96 Panthers in the win. The ’93-’94 Panthers then outscored the ’95-’96 Panthers 14-3 combined in Game’s 6 and 7. They forced a seventh game with a 8-3 win in Game 6 and then won Game 7 by a final of 6-0.

GAME 1:

1st Period 2nd Period 3rd Period Overtime Total ’93-’94 Panthers 0 1 0 0 1 ’95-’96 Panthers 0 0 1 1 2

GAME SUMMARY: ’95-’96 FLA – 2 ’93-’94 FLA – 1 (OT) (1-0 ’95-’96 FLA)

STARS OF THE GAME:

1st Star: G – John Vanbiesbrouck (’95-’96 FLA) – W 1.00 GAA .975 SV% (39 SV’s)

2nd Star: G – John Vanbiesbrouck (’93-’94 FLA) – OTL 2.00 GAA .968 SV% (61 SV’s)

3rd Star: LW – Andrei Lomakin (’93-’94 FLA) – 1 G 0 A 1 P +1 8 S

GAME 2:

1st Period 2nd Period 3rd Period Overtime Total ’93-’94 Panthers 0 1 0 — 1 ’95-’96 Panthers 4 0 1 — 5

GAME SUMMARY: ’95-’96 FLA – 5 ’93-’94 FLA – 1 (2-0 ’95-’96 FLA)

STARS OF THE GAME:

1st Star: G – John Vanbiesbrouck (’95-’96 FLA) – W 1.00 GAA .968 SV% (30 SV’s)

2nd Star: RW – Ray Sheppard (’95-’96 FLA) – 1 G 1 A 2 P +1 1 S

3rd Star: RW – Scott Mellanby (’95-’96 FLA) – 0 G 2 A 2 P +2 3 S

GAME 3:

1st Period 2nd Period 3rd Period Overtime Total ’95-’96 Panthers 1 1 0 — 2 ’93-’94 Panthers 2 0 1 — 3

GAME SUMMARY: ’93-’94 FLA – 3 ’95-’96 FLA – 2 (2-1 ’95-’96 FLA)

STARS OF THE GAME:

1st Star: G – John Vanbiesbrouck (’93-’94 FLA) – W 2.00 GAA .952 SV% (40 SV’s)

2nd Star: LW – Johan Garpenlov (’95-’96 FLA) – 1 G 1 A 2 P +1 3 S

3rd Star: RW – Scott Mellanby (’95-’96 FLA) – 1 G 0 A 1 P +1 13 S

GAME 4:

1st Period 2nd Period 3rd Period Overtime Total ’95-’96 Panthers 2 1 0 — 3 ’93-’94 Panthers 5 1 1 — 7

GAME SUMMARY: ’93-’94 FLA – 7 ’95-’96 FLA – 2 (2-2)

STARS OF THE GAME:

1st Star: LW – Andrei Lomakin (’93-’94 FLA) – 3 G 0 A 3 P +2 3 S

2nd Star: RW – Scott Mellanby (’93-’94 FLA) – 0 G 4 A 4 P +2 11 S 2 PIM

3rd Star: G – Mark Fitzpatrick (’95-’96 FLA) – ND 2.00 GAA .943 SV% (33 SV’s); Replaced starter John Vanbiesbrouck at the 7:45 mark of the first period

GAME 5:

1st Period 2nd Period 3rd Period 3rd Overtime Total ’93-’94 Panthers 2 2 1 0 5 ’95-’96 Panthers 2 1 2 1 6

GAME SUMMARY: ’95-’96 FLA – 6 ’93-’94 FLA – 5 (3OT) (3-2 ’95-’96 FLA)

STARS OF THE GAME:

1st Star: LW – Bill Lindsay (’95-’96 FLA) – 2 G 2 A 4 P +5 7 S

2nd Star: G – John Vanbiesbrouck (’95-’96 FLA) – W 5.00 GAA .940 SV% (78 SV’s)

3rd Star: RW – Ray Sheppard (’95-’96 FLA) – 2 G 1 A 3 P +4 12 S

GAME 6:

1st Period 2nd Period 3rd Period Overtime Total ’95-’96 Panthers 2 0 1 — 3 ’93-’94 Panthers 4 0 4 — 8

GAME SUMMARY: ’93-’94 FLA – 8 ’95-’96 FLA – 3 (3-3)

STARS OF THE GAME:

1st Star: C – Jesse Belanger (’93-’94 FLA) – 0 G 4 A 4 P +2 4 S

2nd Star: D – Brian Benning (’93-’94 FLA) – 0 G 3 A 3 P +5 4 S

3rd Star: RW – Scott Mellanby (’93-’94 FLA) – 2 G 0 A 2 P +2 8 S

GAME 7:

1st Period 2nd Period 3rd Period Overtime Total ’93-’94 Panthers 5 0 1 — 6 ’95-’96 Panthers 0 0 0 — 0

GAME SUMMARY: ’93-’94 FLA – 6 ’95-’96 FLA – 0 (4-3 ’93-’94 FLA)

STARS OF THE GAME:

1st Star: G – John Vanbiesbrouck (’93-’94 FLA) – W 0.00 GAA 1.000 SV% (39 SV’s)

2nd Star: RW – Andrei Lomakin (’93-’94 FLA) – 2 G 2 A 4 P +4 5 S

3rd Star: RW – Scott Mellanby (’93-’94 FLA) – 2 G 1 A 3 P +5 9 S

Up next in the other Semifinal is a matchup between the 2nd-seeded ’99-’00 Panthers and the 6th-seeded ’08-’09 Panthers!