The Panthers took Wednesday off but it was apparent that Joel Quenneville was not over Florida’s 5-2 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes the morning after.

Joining the Joe Rose Show with Zach Krantz on WQAM-560 as he does each week, Quenneville said losing to Carolina regardless of the score was not fun.

The Panthers get another crack at Carolina on Thursday night at 7.

“The last game was really, really one of those games that stings a bit, you know?” Quenneville said on Wednesday morning.

“It had a playoff feel to it and that’s what happens in the playoffs; you look back where there is one play that makes a difference or two plays. It highlights every shifts.

“It’s one of those games where you wake up the next morning and it’s still bugging you. We’ll move on. We have an opportunity (Thursday).”

Carolina has won four of the first five meetings against the Panthers this season and the first three went to overtime.

Tuesday night, Florida led 2-1 going into the third before Carolina got a power play goal early in the period and then took its first lead midway through.

The Panthers came into the game 18-0-1 when leading after two periods.

Florida is now 18-1-1.

“They score on the power play on the first shift then they get a funny one,” Quenneville said. “We gave up that lead and that’s why it stung. You want that point and if you get the other one, great.”

It was a one-goal game until goalie Sergei Bobrovsky was pulled and the Hurricanes put two into an empty net.

“(Tuesday’s) game was very competitive. It was 2-2 midway through the third, we have to get a point in that game,” Quenneville continued.

“They are good with the lead and we were doing a lot of good things in that game. We never got the two goal lead early when we he had the opportunity. We knew they would get their chance, their power play is the best in the league. So, that hurt. …

“Everyone was disappointed. The next game we have to be ready. This is a good for learning. Over the course of the season, the way the schedule is like, this gives you a feel for what the playoffs are like.”

Carolina snapped Florida’s six-game winning streak, one in which the Panthers swept Dallas, Detroit and Columbus without the services of Sasha Barkov and Patric Hornqvist for some of those games.

The Panthers also lost Aaron Ekblad and Anthony Duclair to injury during it.

Despite the losses, the Panthers battled through and worked their way up to the top slot in the NHL’s Central Division where they continue to reside.

After Tuesday’s action, Florida leads Carolina by a point and Tampa Bay by two.

“That was a great stretch, a great run and you had the feeling we were going to win every game,” Quenneville said.

“(Tuesday) was the opposite at the end of it. But that was a good run with good contributions from a number of guys. No matter who you bring up, you love what they brought, the consistency, simplicity. Goaltending was outstanding during that stretch.”

KIERSTED GETS GOOD MINUTES

An interesting aside to Wednesday’s story about Keith Yandle not playing after high-sticking Carolina’s Dougie Hamilton.

Per MoneyPuck.com, the Florida defensive pairing most used 5-on-5 Tuesday was rookie Matt Kiersted with Radko Gudas.

The two were on the ice together for 18:25.

Second was Gus Forsling and MacKenzie Weegar at 15:34.

For Kiersted, in his third NHL game just over a week removed from playing college hockey at North Dakota, that’s some serious responsibility in a game with playoff implications.

We will see if it continues. But he looks good.

“The kid has been impressive in a short amount of time,” Quenneville told Rose. “He sees the game. He’s not the biggest game, but the way he finds a way to get the job done has been impressive.”

As far as Yandle not playing the entirety of the third, Quenneville shied away from calling it a benching.

“We had seven D dress and kind of went along with that,” Quenneville said. “(Kiersted) is coming in on the left side and it has been great experience for him to grow and get some quality ice time.

“We got deeper into the third and then we got behind and … we probably coulda, shoulda put him in with the goalie out and we didn’t. Every game is different. Everyone gets their turn, sometimes they play more than others.”

TRADE RUMORS

Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic reports that the Panthers and Chicago Blackhawks are working on a trade with Brett Connolly and Riley Stillman being a part of it.

Thursday morning, Quenneville confirmed that Stillman would be out of the lineup against Carolina and that neither he nor Connolly skated at PNC Arena.

Stay tuned.

TRADE DEADLINE MAILBAG COMING

I expect the Panthers to take Friday off, so that should be the perfect time for another Panthers Mailbag.

The official Mailbag announcement will come later Thursday, but if you have any pressing questions — trade stuff, lineup stuff or, like Sasha Barkov the other night, ask me about what hat I am wearing — go ahead and leave it in the comments on this post.

OK, see you then!

Florida Panthers at Carolina Hurricanes 

PROJECTED FLORIDA PANTHERS LINES

FLORIDA FORWARDS

19 Mason Marchment — 16 Sasha Barkov — 23 Carter Verhaeghe

11 Jonathan Huberdeau — 21 Alex Wennberg — 70 Patric Hornqvist

77 Frank Vatrano — 55 Noel Acciari — 74 Owen Tippett

83 Juho Lammikko — 27 Eetu Luostarinen 

FLORIDA DEFENSEMEN

42 Gus Forsling — 52 MacKenzie Weegar

8 Matt Kiersted — 7 Radko Gudas

3 Keith Yandle — 65 Markus Nutivaara

25 Brady Keeper

FLORIDA GOALIES

60 Chris Driedger

72 Sergei Bobrovsky

Scratches: D Anton Stralman, G Spencer Knight, F Ryan Lomberg

Traded to Chicago: F Brett Connolly, D Riley Stillman

Injured: F Anthony Duclair (shoulder, day-to-day); D Aaron Ekblad (left leg, out for season)

Taxi squad: D Kevin Connauton, F Aleksi Heponiemi, G Philippe Desrosiers

Florida power play (29/128 22.7% — 11th in NHL)

Florida penalty kill (97/121 80.2% — 12th in NHL)

PP1: Sasha Barkov, Jonathan Huberdeau, Patric Hornqvist, Alex Wennberg, Keith Yandle

PP2: Frank Vatrano, Noel Acciari, Mason Marchment, Carter Verhaeghe, Gustav Forsling

PROJECTED CAROLINA HURRICANES LINES

CAROLINA FORWARDS

37 Andrei Svechnikov — 20 Sebastian Aho — 71 Jesper Fast

48 Joran Martinook — 16 Vincent Trocheck — 88 Martin Necas

21 Nino Niederreiter— 11 Jordan Staal — 13 Warren Foegele

18 Cedric Paquette — 78 Steven Lorentz — 67 Morgan Geekie

CAROLINA DEFENSEMEN

74 Jaccob Slavin — 19 Dougie Hamilton

76 Brady Skjei — 22 Brett Pesce

4 Hayden Fluery — 24 Jake Bean

CAROLINA GOALIES

34 Petr Mrazek

39 Alex Nedeljkovic

Carolina power play (34/114 29.8% — 1st in NHL)

Carolina penalty kill (100/121 82.6% — 8th in NHL)

PP1: Jordan Staal, Sebastian Aho, Vincent Trocheck, Dougie Hamilton, Andrei Svechnikov

PP2: Jesper Fast, Warren Foegele, Nino Niederreiter, Brett Pesce, Martin Necas