from Nicholas J. Cotsonika of NHL.com,

Tom Rowe walked into the locker room. A moment later, he walked out. The new coach had but a brief message for the Florida Panthers after a 2-1 shootout loss to the Chicago Blackhawks at United Center on Tuesday.

"He just kind of told us that if we play like that, we'll be on the other end, the winning side, more often than not," defenseman Keith Yandle said.

After all the negativity over the previous 48 hours following the firing of coach Gerard Gallant, this was a time to accentuate the positives: The Panthers played hard. They tied the game in the third period on a power-play goal by Jaromir Jagr. They finished with 39 shots on goal, tying for their second-highest total of the season. They earned a point. Had Blackhawks goaltender Corey Crawford not been First Star, they might have earned two.

Moral victory?

"Definitely," Rowe said after his first game as an NHL coach. "Really proud of the guys. The effort was incredible."

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