HAPPY NEW YEAR! And a panthers win to go along with it. 2016 had its ups and downs. However, it ended on a high note in large part thanks to James Reimer. Tom Rowe made the controversial decision to start Reimer for the 2nd game in a row instead of Roberto Luongo even though the Panthers next game isn’t until Wednesday. Reimer made 35 saves against a hungry Dallas team. The scoring started early. Seth Griffith put a drop pass for Jagr who took a shot, Niemi made the save but Trocheck got the rebound and deked out Niemi and scored his 11th goal of the year. Trocheck tied Jonathan Marchessault for the team lead in goals and he is just red hot. This goal happened with 16:54 left in the 1st. The Panthers got two powerplays and two powerplay goals within 1:08. Jussi Jokinen finally got on the board with his 3rd goal and Jaromir Jagr who has just been getting assists scored his 1st goal in a while with his 7th on the year. Patrick Eaves scored for Dallas in the 2nd on the powerplay. After a highly offensive 1st, the Panthers went back on their heels and left Reimer out to dry, who thankfully came up strong. the Panthers had a total of 38 shots on goal with 22 in the 1st. Niemi was pulled after the 3rd goal.