George Richards, FHN Publisher
The Florida Panthers held a morning practice in Toronto on Friday, their last time on ice together before the games start counting for real.
Florida and the New York Islanders kick off a best-of-five Stanley Cup qualifier Saturday at 4 p.m. (FSF, NBCSN, 560-AM) and there is a lot riding on Game 1.
The winner of Saturday’s game not only grabs momentum, but because the first team to three win moves on to the playoffs, has four chances to win two games and keep their season going.
“I think the first game is more important in a best-of-five than it is in a best-of-seven,” Brett Connolly said following the team workout at the Ford Performance Center.
“Tomorrow’s game is huge. There are no time to take a shift off because if you do, you could be down a couple of goals. In a best-of-five, you could be behind the 8-ball right away.
“There has to be urgency right away and I think the guys know that. We need to be ready to go.”
The Panthers, especially, would do themselves plenty of favors by coming ready to play Saturday not only to take the series lead, but to flush the thoughts of Wednesday’s disastrous showing.
Yes, Wednesday’s 5-0 loss to the Lightning was only an exhibition game. We get that it did not count. And, Florida was playing without its top defensive pairing.
Only the team did seem to take Wednesday’s game with an ounce of seriousness and let things get ugly in a hurry. The Panthers’ defensive game fell apart, their offensive push nonexistent.
If coach Joel Quenneville was able to rid that memory over the past two days of practice, the Panthers should be fine.
“That certainly caught our attention,” Quenneville said. “We had two spirited practice that were up-tempo, had some pace. We had a sour taste in our mouth; that game was very disappointing to us in every way.
“We have moved on from that and are excited about the opportunity that’s ahead of us. … We liked the response we got and we need a response tomorrow.”
Things start for real on Saturday. The Panthers and Islanders both know it.
“We got one game under our belt and while we didn’t play our best, at the end of the day, it doesn’t matter,” Connolly said. “It was an exhibition game, everyone was shaking off the rust. I think for a lot of guys, there was excitement, nerves.
“The first couple of shifts, we will be ramped up right away. We’re playing a team that plays hard, is well coached. We’re going to need everyone playing their best, playing hard and for each other.
“We need good performances out of each guy individually and collectively. First shift, it’s on and it is going to be a lot of fun. It is going to be wide open and the guys believe we can do it.”
PANTHERS HEALTHY, READY
Quenneville said everyone practiced on Friday and, according to his brief statement, the Panthers are at full strength heading into Game 1.
“We look like we’re all good to go,’’ Quenneville said. “We’re all clear and ready to go.’’
Florida’s top defensive pairing — Aaron Ekblad and MacKenzie Weegar — did not play Wednesday but have practiced together the past two days.
“They enjoy playing together and their absence gave us a void in our lineup,” Quenneville said. “Having them back together is important.”
Keith Yandle said Friday’s practice had a energetic feel on the eve of the postseason beginning.
“As soon as it was over, there was a feeling of excitement where you’re just ready to go play,” Yandle said. “We have been practicing for a while, so I think the fun begins with playing games. You can tell everyone is excited.”
POWERED DOWN
The Panthers had a couple of early chances to take the first lead Wednesday as Tampa Bay took a pair of penalties within the first half of the opening period.
Florida failed to score on either of its first two power play chances — and went 0-4 on the day after failing to score on a lengthy 5-on-3 chance in the third.
Yandle, the point man for the Panthers’ high-powered top power play unit, said he felt Florida did a lot of “good things” on Wednesday so there was no sense of frustration by not scoring.
Florida, it should be noted, had its power play ranked in the top five of the league following the win at Chicago on Jan. 21.
By the time the season ended, it dropped to 10th as the Panthers scored just seven goals off 56 chances in their final 20 games while with the extra skater.
“(Goalie Andrei) Vasilevskiy made a lot of great saves so sometimes you tip your cap,” Yandle said. “We did a lot of good things I thought. Come (Saturday), special teams are going to be huge whether its PK or PP, finding ways for momentum in not hurting your team or finding a way to score goals.”
Special teams play, both with the man advantage or killing a penalty off, becomes extremely important in the postseason especially in a short series.
Quenneville notes that because the Islanders do not commit many penalties (New York is ranked 15th in penalty kill success rate and third behind Columbus and Winnipeg in actual penalties taken), the Panthers may not have the opportunity to cash in as much as they’re used to.
If the Panthers hope to grab some momentum with their 10th-ranked power play (which was No. 2 in the league last year), they’re going to play with some urgency all while not getting down if they don’t score.
In three losses to the Islanders this season, Florida went 1-for-10 on the power play.
“You don’t get a lot of power play chances against the Islanders because they don’t take many penalties,” Quenneville said. “When you do get the power play, you want to make sure you’re generating some offense, whether you are scoring or generating chances and keeping the momentum of the game.
“Our penalty killers will have a big task as well. When you’re out there, make sure you kill it best you can. … Let’s be moving together. We think special teams will play a big hand in the outcome.”
BUBBLE TALK
On Thursday, Ekblad and Sasha Barkov talked about killing time within the boundaries of their hotel with video games.
Friday, Connolly and Yandle were all about the gambling.
When asked how they were spending their spare time, Connolly started talking about playing cards. Yandle then yelled out “dice!”
“Cards,” Connolly said. “A lot of dice, some video game players. We have a lot of things going on.”
— Yandle said the ice at Scotiabank Arena “was good” on Wednesday when the Panthers played the Lightning. That was the first exhibition game to be played that day.
Saturday, the Panthers and Islanders will be the second game in Toronto as the Rangers and Hurricanes kick things off at noon.
“Obviously it is going to get a lot of play,’’ Yandle said. “They are doing a good job of keeping it cold in there and you don’t have to worry about opening the doors for fans or anything like that. I think they have managed it well and hopefully it gets even better.”