George Richards, FHN Publisher
The Florida Panthers were supposed to be in Raleigh, N.C., on Thursday morning yet due to yet another COVID postponement, were back at practice in Sunrise.
Coach Joel Quenneville has run his team through its paces for the past few weeks with only two games against the Chicago Blackhawks to break up the monotony.
Thursday, he decided to have a little fun all while his team got some work in.
After about 15 minutes into yet another practice, Quenneville gathered the team at center ice and told them the plan.
The teams were split according to jersey color and two pucks would be in play at once — a 14-on-14 scrimmage.
“Get after it!” Quenneville shouted to cheers.
And they did.
The Panthers looked more like kids at a hockey camp than professional NHL players Thursday and seemed to enjoy it immensely.
“It’s kind of a fun drill you always keep in your pocket and use it when there’s a day you feel you need to have a little fun and get a little work done,’’ Quenneville said.
“It’s good to have a little bit of both but we’re still trying to emphasize systems, but that can wear on you a little. Having some balance was today’s idea.”
Said Aaron Ekblad: “We know we have to keep the morale up, we have to adapt and change to the situation in this ongoing pandemic. It’s always tough when you’re taking four or five days off, but we have to try and create game-like conditions to be ready for Columbus on Tuesday.”
With three goalies on the ice and only two nets, Philippe Desrosiers got to channel his inner forward.
When the goalie scored by batting a loose puck past Sergei Bobrovsky while in full gear and using his goalie stick, both teams stopped to cheer.
Bobrovsky, ever the good sport, scooped up the puck and chased down the celebrating Desrosiers to give it to him as a memento.
“I thought he looked good, he got the game puck for his goal,’ Quenneville said.
The Panthers have plenty of time to use Thursday for some fun and games.
With their two-game series against Carolina postponed due to a COVID-19 breakout among the Hurricanes, the Panthers are getting more practice time this season than they ever thought they would.
Instead of playing two games between Thursday and Saturday, they will be practicing at BB&T Center.
Although Thursday was more about fun and conditioning, expect Friday to be a work day.
You can’t have a Thursday every day.
But with days until their next scheduled game — Tuesday at Columbus — Quenneville was able to break things up a bit.
“Today was supposed to be a game day and we had a fun practice out there,” said Quenneville, whose team has had four of its first six scheduled games in 2021 postponed due to COVID issues on the opposing side.
“We will skate again (Friday), have a scrimmage on Saturday. We will practice and fly to Columbus on Monday and, um, let’s go to Columbus.
“I have to commend the guys for rolling with the punches so to say. We’re dealing with what’s next.”
In Raleigh, the Hurricanes’ training facility is closed with players left behind in Nashville to quarantine after testing positive leading the NHL to postpone Carolina’s game against the Preds on Tuesday night.
The league said that Carolina’s next two games against the Panthers would be postponed, but after Dallas had four games affected by its outbreak, more games could potentially by moved.
Florida Panthers roster moves
On Wednesday, the Panthers announced goalie Sam Montembeault would be assigned to their shared AHL team with the Lightning in Syracuse.
The Panthers want to get Montembeault some games and the Lightning have promised GM Bill Zito that Florida’s young goalie will play.
Desrosiers will stay with the Panthers as their emergency No. 3 on the taxi squad.
Florida also moved defenseman Riley Stillman off the main roster and onto the taxi squad. Because of Stillman’s experience, he was waiver exempt and can move back-and-forth.
The Panthers made the move with the expectation that they will have to activate Markus Nutivaara in the next few days. Nutivaara was on the NHL’s COVID protocol list Monday but was off it the following day.
Nutivaara skated with the team Tuesday and again Thursday.