A year after the NHL first skated into the Sunshine State, a team is added to the Miami area known as the Florida Panthers. With NHL limiting teams to protecting one goalie, the Panthers were guaranteed some good players, and they were able to land John Vanbiesbrouk, a former Vezina winner.

On October 6th, the Panthers play their first game skating to a 4-4 tie with the Blackhawks in Chicago. Three days later, they would win their first game beating the cross-state Lightning 2-0 before a record crowd of 27,227 in Tamp Bay.

However, the Panthers would lose their homecoming at the Miami Arena 2-1 to the Pittsburgh Penguins on October 12th. The expansion Panthers would competitive hockey all season just missing the playoffs by one point with a solid 33-34-17 record, the most successful season by a first-year NHL team.