Broken glass: The Florida Panthers’ house of pane and pain

The five stages of franchise-directed emotion: Glee, anger, exasperation, indifference and, finally, pity.

It appears as though the Florida Panthers have arrived at the last station.

Things are going so poorly for the hockey franchise — pundits used to mocking the Phoenix Coyotes have turned full attention to South Florida — that you feel sorry for the players and staff now.

Maybe that afternoon exhibition game with pictures of vast sections of empty seats set the tone for a dismal season. The coach was fired, trades made and who knows what is coming next.

Ain’t no sunshine in Sunrise ...

The latest fumble came when a pane of glass broke during a Panthers game against the visiting Detroit Red Wings. Workers substituted the broken glass with a new piece but could not remove the protective covering.

Obstructed view!

Who wants to see action down low to the left of Red Wings goalie Jimmy Howard, anyway? It was fixed in time for overtime and the shootout but could not stop another round of negative publicity in the United States and Canada.

And it also made a media star of high-schooler Jake Winderman, who tweeted about the debacle, as an aggrieved Panthers’ season ticket holder. His tweet was retweeted 362 times and picked up by the lively Puck Daddy blog over at Yahoo Sports!

In fact, Jake happens to be the son of Ira Winderman of the Sun-Sentinel, Tribune company colleague and first-rate chronicler of all things Miami Heat and the popular Ask Ira column.

Looks like Ask Jake won’t be too far behind ...

George Richards of the Miami Herald, who covers the hockey team, was all over #GlassGate. On Wednesday, he advanced the story, tweeting:

ALSO:

Watch Shawne Merriman walk out on ESPN interview

Mike Shanahan may start Kirk Cousins over Robert Griffin III

Looks like Kings will ride red hot goalie Martin Jones again at Toronto