Florida Panthers would ‘rather play than practice.’ They’re about to start playing a lot
They spent another hour on the ice, another practice to pass the time as they wait to return to their regularly scheduled season that was paused due to no fault of their own.
But not long after they finished at the BB&T Center on Monday, the Florida Panthers were on their way to Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport.
Game action is once again on the horizon.
After going six days without a game due to the latest round of postponements, the Panthers (2-0-0) resume their season Tuesday against the Columbus Blue Jackets (2-2-2) at Nationwide Arena.
“They’d rather play than practice,” Panthers coach Joel Quenneville said.
And the Panthers will play. A lot.
Their already jam-packed schedule got even more condensed when the NHL rescheduled their two postponed games against the Carolina Hurricanes from last week for Feb. 17 and March 7. Their road game against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Feb. 16 was moved up one day to Feb. 15.
Because of early season postponements due to opponent COVID-19 issues — first the Dallas Stars, then the Carolina Hurricanes — the Panthers are set to play 54 games within 103 days after playing just two games in the first 13 days of the regular season.
It starts with four games on the road over the next six days — two against Columbus, Ohio, on Tuesday and Thursday and then a back-to-back against the Detroit Red Wings on Saturday and Sunday.
The Panthers’ schedule in February: 14 games in a 24-day stretch.
Just six times will they have more than one day off between games. They also have eight back-to-backs. This includes two with travel involved: The Panthers play at the Nashville Predators on March 6 and at Carolina on March 7 in the middle of a five-game, three-city road trip and also host the Chicago Blackhawks on March 15 before traveling to play the Tampa Bay Lightning on March 16 to split up what was originally a four-game homestand.
“Days off are going to be at a premium as we go along, as will being rested and keeping ourselves as fresh as possible,” Quenneville said. “Morning skates might be going away as you go along in the year as well, so there’s a lot of different things we can do to stay fresh.”
But don’t look to the Panthers to make any excuses as they embark on this schedule. They knew changes would likely come as the NHL plays its season amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Ask veteran defenseman Aaron Ekblad: “It’s adapt and be successful or die. That’s the way it goes. We don’t want to die as a team here, we want to be malleable in situations like this and really just find a way to succeed no matter what.”
Or defenseman Anton Stralman: “It is what it is. It’s out of our control and we just have to deal with it on a day-to-day basis. That’s really all you can do. You can’t put a lot of focus on it. You just have to move on and have fun. I think everybody’s excited to be back playing hockey and if a few games here and there are going to be postponed or whatever, so be it.”
Or winger Patric Hornqvist: “We can’t really control it, so why spend energy on it? That’s my approach to life. If you can’t control it, don’t worry about it. Just focus on the next day.”
The next day brings the Panthers to Columbus for two games against the Blue Jackets. Columbus has picked up points in each of its past four games after dropping its first two in regulation against the Nashville Predators.
The Blue Jackets also sent ripples around the NHL with the first blockbuster trade of the season, sending center Pierre-Luc Dubois to the Winnipeg Jets for Patrik Laine.
Laine, 22, is quickly becoming one of the NHL’s top young forwards. He already has 250 career points (140 goals, 110 assists) in four seasons. It’s uncertain if Laine will play Tuesday, however, since he needs to get a working visa to play in the United States and will need to clear the COVID protocol.
Even if the Panthers don’t see Laine in this set with Columbus, there’s still six more matchups this season with the Blue Jackets.
“Laine can score with the best of them in the game,” Quenneville said. “We look forward to the challenge of trying to prevent him. He’s kind of one of those key guys on the power play they look to set up and has one of the elite shots like [Alex] Ovechkin. We’ll look forward to that challenge and we’ll see how it all plays out.”
This and that
▪ Sergei Bobrovsky will start in net Tuesday for the Panthers.
▪ Defenseman Markus Nutivaara, who still holds a nonroster designation, is traveling with the team and is questionable for Tuesday. It is expected that he will be added to the Panthers’ active roster before Tuesday.
