SUNRISE, Fla. - Gerard Gallant needed no sales pitch from the Florida Panthers. Hes aware that they have not won a playoff series in nearly two decades, that they missed the playoffs by a mile last season and that they change coaches on an all-too-regular basis. None of that deterred him, either. "You look at their roster, you look at their team, you look at their core players," Gallant said. "I think its a great opportunity and Im looking forward to working with this hockey club." He now has that chance, after being introduced as the 13th coach in Panthers history and the teams eighth bench boss since 2003. Gallant hasnt been an NHL head coach since 2006, but has plenty of experience as an assistant and a very successful stint as the head coach of the Saint John Sea Dogs in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League. His best player there was current Panthers winger Jonathan Huberdeau, whos considered a key part of Floridas plan to turn things around. "Of course I was excited to hear that news," Huberdeau said of his reaction to Gallants hiring. "Gerard has been a great coach for me. He taught me a lot of stuff when I was in juniors and its because of him that Im in the NHL right now." When Gallant and Huberdeau were paired in juniors, their team won just about every night, or so it seemed. No ones expecting that in Florida, but some parallels will exist from that team and now, Gallant said. "Jonathans a great kid," Gallant said. "I knew the kid for three years and we worked well together. Were going to have 23 players who are going to work hard and compete." Panthers general manager Dale Tallon called the search exhaustive, and the team was linked to plenty of other candidates throughout the two-month process, most notably the likes of Peter Laviolette, Barry Trotz and Dan Bylsma. When he met with Gallant, Tallon expected him to be in a downtrodden mood — the first interview was two days after the Montreal Canadiens, with whom Gallant was an assistant coach the past two seasons, were eliminated from this years playoffs. Instead, Gallant was high-energy, eager, excited. Tallon was impressed. "Ive never heard a negative word said about Gerard Gallant in any capacity in hockey," Tallon said. Its the start of a hectic time for Florida, which holds the No. 1 pick in the upcoming NHL Draft — one they could trade away — and is expected to be a busy player when free agency begins July 1. And Gallant knows very well how quickly things can turn around. When he was hired in Montreal, the Canadiens were coming off a season where they finished with the fewest points in the East. With Gallant on the staff, the Canadiens won a division title in 2012-13, and topped the 100-point mark in the standings last season. 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The Ivory Coast managed to keep Colombia off the score sheet in the first half, but they couldnt hold them off in the second half as goals from James Rodriguez and Juan Fernando Quintero scored to lift Los Cafeteros to the victory. Colombia struck for the opener in the 64th minute as a corner kick from Juan Guillermo Cuadrado was expertly nodded into the top left corner of the net by Rodriguez. Colombia doubled its advantage in the 70th minute following a giveaway from the Ivory Coast in the center of the park. Gutierrez advanced the ball and slid a well-weighted pass into the path of Quintero, who slotted a left-footed shot past the on-rushing Boubacar Barry. Ivory Coast pulled one back just three minutes later. It was Gervinho who did the honors, capping a weaving run from the left flank by pumping a right- footed shot past Colombia goalkeeper David Ospina at the near post. But it wasnt enough as Les Elephants could not find an equalizer. "We didnt deserve to lose, I feel a draw would have been fair," Ivory Coast coach Sabri Lambouchi said. "We made a few untimely errors and paid a heavy price.ddddddddddddIm not going to get too carried away with what went on, there are only some small things to iron out ahead of the next game. Well now go back to our camp and get plenty of rest, because well need to beat Greece by a big margin. I cant see us qualifying any other way." Greece, meanwhile, is coming off a scoreless draw against Japan in Natal at the Estadio das Dunas on Thursday. A win for the Greeks would keep them alive for a spot in the round-of-16 with four points, but they could still go home if Japan beats Colombia earlier in the day. The run of play in Thursdays affair was even until the 38th minute when Greece had Kostas Katsouranis sent off for a second caution, which came by way of a sliding challenge on Makoto Hasebe. But the Greeks almost took the lead shortly after when Vasilis Torosidis took a failed clearance and hammered a shot on goal, but goalkeeper Eiji Kawashima was equal to the task, turning the attempt out of play to deny the Roma man. "We struggled to even get close to the Japanese box, particularly in the first half. Thats why I feel we played really well in the second 45 minutes," Greek head coach Fernando Santos said. "We thought Japan might change their style and play more long balls, rather than always playing short passes. We now need to win our next game because Cote dIvoire have three points and weve just one. We need to find a way to put the Ivorians under pressure. I hope that everything turns out like Euro 2004, when Greece also needed to win their last [group] game and ended up going through." ' ' '