Erin Brown

SUNRISE, Fla. -- Roberto Luongo's return to South Florida has been two years in the making. Quite a long time for fans, players and the organization to receive closure.

Whether it be Stephen Weiss' blind shot which tied it at three apiece, Tomas Vokoun's save on Markus Naslund's penalty shot in overtime, or Nathan Horton's lone shootout goal, the current Panthers did their part to put momentarily let fans forget about one of the darkest days in franchise history.

Despite playing with a sense of urgency that has been absent for most of the year, Florida struggled to swing the momentum totally in their favor. Yet they kept rattling off shots, 73 in all if you account for the ones that flew wide or were blocked. No Canuck went untouched, as 12 players recorded at least one hit.

Weiss suggested after the game Luongo's return didn't factor into the team's passionate play. That may be the case, but it was hard to ignore who was at the other end of the ice when fans in the BankAtlantic Center jeered every play in which Luongo touched the puck.

And Vokoun, who was subjected to playing in the shadow of Luongo upon his arrival in Florida, thrust himself into the spotlight with a penalty shot save on Markus Naslund with 46 seconds to play in overtime. He followed that effort with three consecutive saves to seal the shutout victory, celebrating in his crease with a little fist pump before his teammates mobbed him.

"People can do lots of stuff with emotion, and that's what we need here," Vokoun said. "We need more involvement and more emotion. We've got to enjoy winning. When you enjoy it, you do everything you can to repeat that feeling."

Perhaps it was fitting that Florida's celebration music for the evening included Eminem's "Lose Yourself" -- "If you had one shot, or one opportunity/to seize everything you ever wanted -- one moment/would you capture it or just let it slip?"

It may not have been the most well-executed or prettiest win for Florida. But the desire to skate away with this W more than any other was apparent. Now it is just a question as to whether they can bottle the passion from tonight for the stretch.

SUNRISE, Fla. -- Ah yes, it feels great to be back in sunny, South Florida. Definitely in regards to the weather, but not so much for the hockey.

After finally awaking from my coma (induced from the lack of sleep over the weekend), I've finally gotten a chance to reflect on All-Star Weekend. In short, it was an excellent experience. I did the math, and it amounted to 36 hours of work on 12 hours of (total) sleep over three days, with 43 players/coaches interviewed in that span. (I know you're thinking, "WHERE ARE ALL OF THE INTERVIEWS?" There just wasn't enough time to get everything off the tape and onto the web.)

One thing I didn't get a chance to talk about was the informal, media all-star game, which took place on Sunday at 6 a.m. Russ Cohen of Sportology had a great recap of the scrimmage. I think Russ nails it when he points out we skated on a perfect sheet of ice just 12 hours before the actual All-Star Game was to take place. It really didn't dawn on me at the time, probably because I was in awe of how perfect the ice was. I don't think Mother Nature could have put together an ice surface as perfect as NHL ice guru Dan Craig did.

The All-Star Game itself was a real treat, mainly because in Florida, we just don't get to see that kind of action on a night-to-night basis. I enjoyed watching the East's line of Daniel Alfredsson, Vincent Lecavalier and Evgeni Malkin gel very quickly. You figure each player skates alongside other Stars, but to see them together was just... impressive. They could have been blindfolded and played just as well.

Unfortunately, I don't expect to see anything like that this evening at the Canucks-Panthers game. Yes, it marks the return of Roberto Luongo to South Florida, but the Panthers haven't played anything close to well the past two games. Before the All-Star break, they collapsed in the final two minutes, giving up two goals to the Oilers before losing in a shootout. And then there was Tuesday, a 1-0 loss to Buffalo, cited by a friend as the "worst game" he's ever seen the Panthers play in their history, period. (As you can imagine there were a number of other choice words in that statement.)