dropped to .914. The Panthers again fell a point short of making the playoffs. In the 1995–96 season, Vanbiesbrouck was named to the All-Star Game. In the game, he played the second period and gave up three goals on seven shots. The Panthers were in playoff position for more than half of the season, but faltered late in the season and were close to falling out of the playoff race. Late in the season, Vanbiesbrouck shutout the New Jersey Devils putting Florida into the playoffs. At the end of the regular season, he played in 57 games posting a 21–25–11 with two shutouts. His games played ranked him tenth in the league while his GAA of 2.68 was ninth. In the first round, Florida defeated the Boston Bruins in five games. Their second round match-up was against the heavily favored Philadelphia Flyers. Vanbiesbrouck posted a shutout in the first game of the series, the third post-season shutout of his career and the first in Panthers playoff history. During the series, Vanbiesbrouck held the Flyers scoreless for 116:46 straight minutes as Florida upset Philadelphia, winning four games to two. In the Conference Finals, the Panthers were again huge underdogs to the Pittsburgh Penguins, a team that featured the league's two top scorers in Mario Lemieux and Jaromír Jágr. The Penguins took a 3–2 series lead, but the Panthers won Game 6, 4–3, to force Game 7. In Game 7, Vanbiesbrouck made 39 saves in a 3–1 Panthers victory, winning the Eastern Conference and putting them in the Stanley Cup Finals. The Panthers fell behind the Colorado Avalanche 3–0 in the series. Game 4 was considered one of the classic games in finals' history. The game was a 0–0 tie entering the third overtime period. Early in the period, a long shot from Colorado's Uwe Krupp eluded Vanbiesbrouck, giving the Avalanche a 1–0 win and the Stanley Cup. Vanbiesbrouck made 55 saves in the loss and even though his team was swept in the finals, he still finished third in voting for the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP. During the 1996–97 season, Vanbiesbrouck was elected by the fans to the All-Star Game as the starting goaltender. Vanbiesbrouck' 200,457 votes led the Eastern Conference. By season's end, Vanbiesbrouck finished in the top ten in the NHL for save percentage (6), GAA (5) and tied for 11 in wins (27). The Panthers finished