Florida

Panthers Fire Head Coach Gerard Gallant

The Panthers moved swiftly to fire head coach Gerard Gallant following Sunday's loss

The Florida Panthers fired head coach Gerard Gallant following their 3-2 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes on Sunday evening.

General Manager Tom Rowe will take over the coaching duties for Florida, after handing Gallant his walking papers. Rowe has coached in the NHL before, but not since 2011. In an interesting twist, Rowe led Carolina in that last tour of duty.

Gallant's firing could come as a surprise to many as the season is just 22 games old. The coach had some memorable success with Florida and led it to the playoffs just last season. While playing under Gallant, the Panthers went 96-65-25 overall and set a franchise-record for wins in 2015-16.

This was Gallant's third season as Florida's head coach after joining the organization back in 2014. During last season, Gallant served as the head coach for the Atlantic Division All-Stars and the veteran coach was a finalist for the Jack Adams Award.

This season, Florida has an 11-10-1 record and sits in tenth place in the Eastern Conference. Florida's success in 2015-16 set the bar higher for management, and Gallant paid the price for the disappointing campaign.

Rowe will coach his first game on Tuesday in Chicago.

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