Florida Panthers coach forced to wait for a taxi after team fires him 22 games into the season

Karl B DeBlaker/AP

The Florida Panthers literally left head coach Gerard Gallant on the side of the road on Sunday night, firing him and forcing him to call his own taxi as the team bus departed for the airport without him.

The dismissal came after a 3-2 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes in Raleigh, NC. This dropped the Panthers to an underwhelming 11-10-1 through the first 22 games of the NHL season.

Cruelly enough, this meant that Gallant was forced to take his luggage off the team bus, call a taxi, and wait by himself outside the Hurricanes arena.

As Deadspin's Barry Petchesky noted, the decision to fire Gallant is a curious one. The Panthers signed him to an extension in January, and last season his team tallied a franchise record 103 points. This year, they have stumbled out of the gates, which largely can be attributed to several key players missing time with injuries.

Players are said to adore Gallant, though as Petchesky noted, he has reportedly butted heads with management. An underwhelming start was enough to give him the boot, and evidently the Panthers front office was so fed up they didn't even think to call him an Uber.

Photographers snapped several pictures of the scene, which were brutal:

Karl B DeBlaker/AP

Karl B DeBlaker/AP

Karl B DeBlaker/AP