Panthers Slip Back After Fast Start : Hockey: Weird incidents slow team, which enters game against Ducks with one-point advantage.

Expansion started so pleasantly for the Florida Panthers.

They were the coin-flipping champions of the NHL expansion draft in June.

By November, they had a 7-7-3 record and were eighth in the Eastern Conference.

But trouble came. Doesn’t it always, for expansion teams?

When defenseman Brent Severyn was injured by a cup of coffee, you had to figure the Panthers had upset the expansion gods.

“We’ve had some weird incidents,” left wing Brian Skrudland said.

Severyn didn’t miss any games after a cup of coffee fell from above his locker, scalding his neck. That was Nov. 27 at Hartford, and that night the Panthers were shut out for the first time.

Left wing Dave Lowry and defenseman Joe Cirella each have missed time recently with fractured cheek bones after being struck by pucks. Severyn took a stick to the eye during a pregame warm-up. And most costly, Rob Niedermayer, the rookie who had just taken over the team scoring lead, separated his shoulder and defenseman Keith Brown required arthroscopic knee surgery.

Think the frustration was showing when Coach Roger Neilson tossed two sticks and two water bottles onto the ice at Boston Garden after questionable calls by replacement officials might have cost his team the game Nov. 26?

Now, his team is in the midst of a stretch during which it plays 14 of 18 games on the road, and events have conspired to bring Florida into its first game with the Mighty Ducks tonight with a one-point advantage in the standings.

The Panthers have 21 points, the Ducks 20. The Ducks have enjoyed recent success, with their four-game road winning streak in November.

“The teams started even, and we’re about even right now,” Neilson said.

Tonight’s game is almost like a first birthday party for the teams. It was a year ago Thursday that the NHL Board of Governors recommended awarding franchises to the Walt Disney Co. and Blockbuster Entertainment.

It’s also ironic that the first meeting between the new teams owned by big entertainment conglomerates isn’t being televised here or in Florida. But there will be a big-game atmosphere with Commissioner Gary Bettman and his NHL entourage at the game as they prepare for owners’ meetings this week at Laguna Niguel.

The Panthers and Ducks have one thing in common: goaltending is the backbone of their success--John Vanbiesbrouck has been outstanding with a 2.44 goals-against average, and he has been in goal for all but one of the Panthers’ victories. Ron Tugnutt and Guy Hebert have shared the job of keeping the Ducks close.

But one difference between the teams stands out.

The Panthers are 4-1-1 against the other recent expansion teams. The Ducks are 0-6.

“I think when you play against the established teams, you really feel like an underdog and get up for the game,” Neilson said. “But you’ve got to play the same way against the teams that are more similar in skill.”

Duck Notes

The Mighty Ducks are complaining to the NHL about Tampa Bay defenseman Joe Reekie’s cross-check on left wing Garry Valk during the Ducks’ 4-2 loss Sunday at Anaheim Arena.

Valk, who was cross-checked into the boards from behind, suffered a concussion and required four stitches above his right eye.

“He was unconscious before he hit the ice,” General Manager Jack Ferreira said. “He hit his head right onto the upright.”

Reekie was given a five-minute major and a game misconduct by referee Michael McGeough.

Ferreira said he prepared a memo to Brian Burke, NHL senior vice president and director of hockey operations, and was sending it to the league Monday with a copy of the game video.

It is the first time the Ducks have complained to the league about player conduct. Burke has been aggressive in suspending players for using unnecessary roughness since taking the post this year.