Top Shelf: A tale of two hockey cities

Oct 14, 2014 - 7:28 PM Philadelphia, PA (SportsNetwork.com) - Charles Dickens famously opened his novel "A Tale of Two Cities" with these words: "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times."

It's too early to tell if the Tampa Bay Lightning will experience the best of times in 2014-15, but it's already looking like the worst of times for Tampa's neighbors to the south.

The Lightning entered this season as a trendy pick to challenge for a Stanley Cup title, and with a 2-0-1 record and a plus-six goal differential, it would be unwise to pour cold water on the franchise's great expectations.

The Florida Panthers, however, are telling a completely different story in the early going. The Panthers' 0-2-1 start is one thing, but even more depressing is the lack of excitement for the club in South Florida.

Like one of Dickens' novels, the team's history has often been a dark tale with few instances of hope. In fact, the story of the Florida Panthers could be called "Hard Times" and the club's perpetually empty BB&T Center could be renamed "Bleak House."

Florida opened the season well enough, playing the rival Lightning to a 3-2 overtime loss in Tampa. However, things went south in a hurry once the Panthers headed back to the Miami area for a two-game home stand.

The Panthers reported an attendance of 11,419 fans in Saturday's home opener against the New Jersey Devils, setting an all-time low for the franchise's first home test of a season. Florida's second game at BB&T Center hit new depths with an attendance of just 7,311, a record low for the Panthers.

The on-ice results weren't much better, as the Panthers scored just one goal over those two games, getting slammed 5-1 by the Devils before dropping a 1-0 decision to Ottawa on Monday. Neither of those outcomes is likely to help put people in the stands when Florida plays its next home test against Arizona on Oct. 30.

Tampa, meanwhile, lit up the visiting Montreal Canadiens by a 7-1 score on Monday. There were 17,622 fans in central Florida to witness a Steven Stamkos hat trick, and every one not wearing a Habs jersey left the building satisfied.

The disparity between the two franchises begs a few questions.

How could two teams located less than a four-hour drive from each other be so far apart when it comes to fan dedication? Is NHL hockey simply a great fit for Tampa and an impossible sell in Sunrise, Florida?

The answer to the second question is clearly no, and the first one has a lot to do with on-ice success, an area where the Lightning have a huge head start over the Panthers.

Not only did Tampa win a Stanley Cup title in 2004, it also has made the playoffs in six of the last 11 seasons. Florida had early success when it made it to the Cup Finals in 1996 before losing to Colorado, but the Panthers have returned to the postseason only three times since winning their one and only Eastern Conference title.

So, there is a way to build an NHL fan base in the Sunshine State, but unfortunately for the Panthers, it involves improving the on-ice product, something Florida has rarely been able to do no matter how many times they've tried to rebuild. It also doesn't help that general manager Dale Tallon has a difficult time luring free agents to Sunrise, and often has to overpay players past their prime just to get them to join the Cats.

Another reason the Panthers has failed miserably in drawing a crowd in 2014-15 is the club's new ownership group has done away with the practice of giving away loads of free tickets to fill the building. Vincent Viola and his partners, who purchased the team last year, also decided to cordon off parts of the upper deck at BB&T Center, eliminating more than 2,000 seats for Panthers games. The idea was to make the building more intimate and create a better environment for fans, but it clearly won't work if Florida can only sell 7,000 or so tickets a night.

Viola and Co. say they're committed to keeping the Panthers in South Florida despite losing millions of dollars at the start of their ownership tenure. But if things don't get better for the franchise at some point in the near future, they may have no choice but to pick up stakes and find a better home for their hockey club.

The distance between Florida's hockey clubs has been wide for quite some time, and the gap keeps on growing. Too bad Dickens isn't around to write about it.