George Richards, FHN Publisher
Just over a year ago, the Florida Panthers were ready to get the final part of their season going in a game at Dallas.
That game, scheduled for March 12, 2020, was never played.
A lot has happened since the NHL put its season on pause due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Now in a completely different season with a much-different looking team, the Panthers are ready to make a final push.
Back then, the Panthers were fighting (or so they thought) for their postseason lives. Things are as dire today as Florida is entrenched in the NHL’s Central Division playoffs.
Still, with 14 games left in the 2021 season, the Panthers are trying to get right before the playoffs start.
Florida has lost three consecutive games for just the second time this season (and, second time in a few weeks) and would like to go in to the season’s final quarter with a win.
“We just had a practice where we had good spirit, good energy and we certainly didn’t have that the other day,” coach Joel Quenneville said after a practice in North Dallas on Monday afternoon.
”We’re coming off the one game all year where you could say that is not indicative of what we have done, what we have represented all year. Let’s get back to playing hard, working hard and working for one another. Keep ourselves in the game early and put some pressure on the other team.”
Alex Wennberg, one of 21 on the current (and vastly expanded) roster who weren’t on this team last year, said the Panthers just need to bounce back.
“We have had some rough games and that is part of hockey, sometimes having games where you didn’t play the way you wanted to,” said Wennberg, who was with the Columbus Blue Jackets last season.
”We had a couple days between games here and it has been a great time to just adjust, talk about what we need to do better. There are some games where you just don’t over-analyze things. It didn’t work out. Just put it in the trash, move on to the next one.”
Florida will not have any of its newest players on Tuesday as visas and Covid-19 protocols have to be met.
Quenneville said defenseman Brandon Montour and winger Nikita Gusev would join the team Wednesday in Tampa and will likely be in the lineup Thursday against the Lightning.
Lucas Wallmark and Lucas Carlsson are also expected to join the team there but are not expected to play right away.
Sam Bennett, acquired just before Monday’s trade deadline closed, is still in travel limbo.
One regular (he wasn’t here last season, either) will return Tuesday as Anthont Duclair comes back from a shoulder injury.
He is expected to rejoin Florida’s top line with Sasha Barkov and Carter Verhaeghe.
The Panthers sure would like to get that line rolling once more.
ROSTER SHUFFLES
With the NHL Trade Deadline now passed, teams do not have to adhere to the 23-man roster as long as they remain underneath the salary cap.
For Florida, that means there is going to be quite a bit of shuffling in the coming days as, while they have to keep a minimum on the taxi squad for Covid reasons, they have no reason to stash players there anymore.
While we had newcomers Wallmark and Carlsson starting on the taxi squad, they may just open on the main roster.
Florida has a LOT of players on the roster right now including Noah Juulsen who was recalled from Syracuse on Tuesday.
Florida Panthers at Dallas Stars
PROJECTED FLORIDA PANTHERS LINES
FLORIDA FORWARDS
91 Anthony Duclair — 16 Sasha Barkov — 23 Carter Verhaeghe
11 Jonathan Huberdeau — 21 Alex Wennberg — 70 Patric Hornqvist
77 Frank Vatrano — 55 Noel Acciari — 74 Owen Tippett
19 Mason Marchment — 27 Eetu Luostarinen — 94 Ryan Lomberg
FLORIDA DEFENSEMEN
42 Gus Forsling — 52 MacKenzie Weegar
3 Keith Yandle — 7 Radko Gudas
65 Markus Nutivaara — 6 Anton Stralman
FLORIDA GOALIES
60 Chris Driedger
72 Sergei Bobrovsky
Scratches: D Kevin Connauton, D Noah Juulsen, F Juho Lammikko, D Matt Kiersted
Recently acquired, not playing Tuesday: F Sam Bennett, F Nikita Gusev; F Lucas Wallmark; D Brandon Montour; D Lucas Carlsson.
Injured: D Aaron Ekblad (leg, out regular season)
Taxi squad: D Brady Keeper; F Aleksi Heponiemi; G Spencer Knight; G Philippe Desrosiers
Florida power play (30/136 22.1% — 12th in NHL)
Florida penalty kill (102/128 79.7% — 15th in NHL)
PP1: Sasha Barkov, Alex Wennberg, Jonathan Huberdeau, Carter Verhaeghe, Keith Yandle
PP2: Noel Acciari, Frank Vatrano, Anthony Duclair, Owen Tippett, Gus Forsling
PROJECTED DALLAS STARS LINES
DALLAS STARS FORWARDS
21 Jason Robertson — 24 Roope Hintz — 16 Joe Pavelski
18 Jason Dickinson — 14 Jamie Benn — 34 Denis Gurianov
11 Andrew Cogliano — 12 Radek Faksa — 15 Blake Comeau
49 Rhett Gardner — 37 Justin Dowling — 38 Joel L’Esperance
DALLAS STARS DEFENSEMEN
23 Esa Lindell — 3 John Klingberg
2 Jamie Oleksiak — 4 Miro Heiskanen
39 Joel Hanley — 13 Mark Pysyk
DALLAS STARS GOALIES
35 Anton Khudobin
29 Jake Oettinger
Dallas power play (31/123, 25.2% — 5th in NHL)
Dallas penalty kill (91/116 78.4% — 18th in NHL)
PP1: Joe Pavelski, Roope Hintz, Jason Robertson, John Klingberg, Miro Heiskanen
PP2: Radek Faksa, Justin Dowling, Jamie Benn, Esa Lindell, Denis Gurianov