Do The Florida Panthers Have A Miami Dolphins Problem?

The Florida Panthers played a hockey game last night.

Let me correct myself: The Florida Panthers played one period of a hockey game last night before being completely outclassed by the Edmonton Oilers.

After the first 20 minutes, it seemed as though nothing could go wrong for the Cats until it all came crashing down in horrific fashion.

But if you are as chronically online as I am, you might have skipped the game altogether, expecting a similar result.

Allow me to explain.

The Panthers have a fun tradition where, before every home game, they ask someone to "bang the drum."

This is usually a celebrity or athlete with ties to South Florida that will come in at the behest of the Panthers and fire the crowd up a bit.

Last night's guest "banger" was former Miami Dolphin and Hall of Fame edge rusher Jason Taylor.

You would think having a Hall of Fame star like Taylor in the building would offer the Cats some good mojo.

And you would be wrong.

According to a slew of Reddit posts - which we all know is the paragon of truth on the internet - the Florida Panthers are now 1-8 when former or current Dolphins players bang the drum before a game, the lone winner being current Pro Bowl tight end Jonnu Smith.

The fine folks on X seem to have picked up on this trend as well, and they are none too happy with the Panthers' brass.

This stat was floating around in the back of my head leading up to the puck drop on Thursday night, but after sleeping on it, something just didn't feel right.

So, of course, being the "big J" journalist that I am, I decided to dive deep into the facts and dedicate myself to a morning of research (i.e. use Google).

And my research tells me this stat isn't even close to being true.

A quick Google search shows that Jalen Ramsey and Dan Marino both had big wins during the Panthers' recent playoff runs, and if we extend this experiment out to coaches as well, Mike McDaniel was a drum banger for Florida's 3-0 win over Edmonton in Game 1 of last year's Stanley Cup Final.

Yes, it appears the Dolphins' stench of subpar play hasn't quite infected the Panthers' winning ways (yet).

Now, with all that being said, I've never been one to let facts get in the way of a good narrative, so until further notice, all current and former Miami Dolphins should be banned from Amerant Bank Arena until we can get this thing figured out.

Let's go ahead and add Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce to that list as well, just to be safe.