from Harvey Fialkov of the SunSentinel,

Florida Panthers coach Tom Rowe was still unhappy about 18 hours after he felt his players weren’t, “mentally or physically,’’ prepared in a deflating 4-2 loss to the Buffalo Sabres on Monday and warned them against a similar effort in the final seven games of the regular season.

Even though the majority of the Panthers’ young core has long-term contracts, Rowe said while they may not be playing for jobs in the NHL, they are playing for a possible change of address.

“Just because guys don’t have contracts, doesn’t mean they can’t get traded either,” Rowe said before the game against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Tuesday at the Air Canada Centre. “They got to perform. Last night was unacceptable. We beat Chicago 7-0 playing good, then we got into Buffalo for a very, very big game and we come up with a 4-2 loss and they didn’t compete the way they were supposed to.

“At the end of the day, contracts are great. We did it for salary-cap reasons, but it doesn’t mean guys are going to retire [with the Panthers] if they keep playing like they did.”

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