SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) — Gerard Gallant now coaches in a place where home games are parties, practices are attended by hundreds of fans and he can’t get into restaurants unnoticed.
He hoped all that would happen in Florida.
It’s all part of his new reality with Vegas.
Gallant coached at Florida on Friday night for the first time since getting fired by the Panthers in November 2016, but the return wans’t as he would have liked — his Vegas Golden Knights lost to the Panthers 4-3 on Aaron Ekblad’s goal 40 seconds into overtime.
“It’s never personal,” said Gallant, who already seems like a lock to win NHL coach of the year honors for what he’s done with a first-year Vegas club.