Andrew Brunette Denies Strip Club Rumors Ahead of Game 4
This isn't exactly a surprising turn of events, but Florida Panthers Head Coach Andrew Brunette denied rumors that members of the Florida Panthers partied at a Tampa Bay strip club until 3am Sunday night. In an unusual scheduling circumstance, the Panthers/Lightning series Games 3 & 4 are scheduled on back-to-back nights, which makes for terrible partying conditions by the way. The rumor was started by The Pat and Aaron Show, a local Tampa Bay sports talk show. Video below:
The story has caught serious traction around the hockey world, and eventually reached the Panthers' coaching staff. Brunette addressed the rumors during the team's pre-game press conference & denied them immediately:
Hardly a surprise, but a necessary reaction as the team's head coach. What is he supposed to say, after all? Think the players in question would forewarn the head coach of their party plans? Unlikely.
Anyway, Brunette's denial comments sparked a retort from Miami-based FOX Sports host, Andy Slater. Slater alleges that his second-to-none strip club sources have also confirmed the rumors:
I can't speak on the credibility of Slater or his strip club informants, but he works for FOX. Credible enough, I'd say. He confirms the initial scoop that The Pat and Aaron Show reported this afternoon & iterates that his sources are well-placed. So now we've got a spicy 'he-said-she-said.' This story just got much more interesting.
| G | A | PTS | ||
| Kyle Connor | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Alex Tuch | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Owen Power | - | 2 | 2 | |
| Michael Bunting | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Drew Helleson | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Jirí Kulich | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Isac Lundestrom | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Vladislav Namestnikov | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Nino Niederreiter | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Gabriel Vilardi | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Jason Zucker | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Leo Carlsson | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Nikolaj Ehlers | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Ross Johnston | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Evgeni Malkin | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Josh Morrissey | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Cole Perfetti | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Bryan Rust | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Mark Scheifele | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Trevor Zegras | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Complete stats | ||||
| STANDINGS 2024-2025 | ||||||
TOP 10 | GP | W | L | OL | PTS | |
Jets | 20 | 17 | 3 | - | 34 | |
Wild | 19 | 13 | 3 | 3 | 29 | |
Hurricanes | 19 | 14 | 5 | - | 28 | |
Devils | 22 | 13 | 7 | 2 | 28 | |
Capitals | 19 | 13 | 5 | 1 | 27 | |
Golden Knights | 20 | 12 | 6 | 2 | 26 | |
Maple Leafs | 20 | 12 | 6 | 2 | 26 | |
Rangers | 18 | 12 | 5 | 1 | 25 | |
Panthers | 20 | 12 | 7 | 1 | 25 | |
Flames | 20 | 11 | 6 | 3 | 25 | |
| Conference | Cumulative | ||||||