from Michael Russo of The Athletic,

After two-plus decades of instability under different owners and general managers and a revolving door of coaches and players, the Panthers’ fans are back and are showing a hockey world that enjoys tossing potshots their way that if given reason to come, they will come.

“Historically, if you win in South Florida, people show up — they pay attention,” says longtime Panthers TV play-by-play guy Steve Goldstein. “Most of the teams are relatively new — and by new, I mean 25, 35 years. You don’t have the generations of fans. You don’t have the grandfather, the dad and the son that all went to the games. Now, what you’re seeing with the Panthers, you have the mom and the dad, and the daughter and the son are Panthers fans because their parents were.

“There’s a lot of things to do in South Florida. You can go to the beach anytime you want for free. So there needs to be a reason to come to the games. Once teams give that — and the Panthers have the last three, four years been a very good, exciting team with a committed ownership that spends big money — the attendance grows. And now, with this run, it’s off the charts.”

In an entertainment market as competitive as South Florida, you have to win. Period.

And since the Panthers advanced to the Stanley Cup Final in 1996, they didn’t win a playoff round until last spring. Slowly but surely, the fans largely and understandably stopped coming.

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