The last time the Panthers were in Chicago to face the Blackhawks was a special time for Joel Quenneville.

It was the first time back at United Center for the legendary former coach of the Blackhawks since he was fired early in the 2018-19 season.

Quenneville spent the rest of that season taking things easy, charting the next chapter of his coaching career.

We all know what came next.

The day after the 2018-19 season officially came to a close, Quenneville was introduced as the new coach of the Florida Panthers.

This trip, while likely very meaningful to Quenneville as each visit  to Chicago will be from now on, is going to be different.

There will not be a large gathering of local media jammed into the NBA visitors’ locker room at United Center for a pregame press conference with Quenneville.

There will not be a ‘Welcome Back Q’ video played on the Jumbotron as was the case during the first period of that game back on Jan. 21, 2020.

Florida won in Quenneville’s return as Frank Vatrano had a hat trick in the Panthers’ 4-3 win.

“When I left here, the bitterness you thought you would have to leave something like this … there was no such feelings,” Quenneville said afterward.

“The memories are too special.”

This will not have that big-game feel although it carries more importance.

Instead of this being a game held before the All-Star break, it comes in the midst of a playoff push for both teams.

The Panthers have already faced Chicago four times and their four wins have gone a long way to their current standing near the top of the Central Division.

Florida comes into Tuesday third in the division, four points back of leader Tampa Bay and one point back of Carolina for second place.

The Blackhawks, one of the league’s pleasant surprises this season, have hit the skids a bit.

Chicago has lost four consecutive games — which include two in Sunrise — and have dropped six of the past seven as it tries to hold off Columbus for the final playoff spot in the Central.

Florida, meanwhile, appears to be in a pretty good spot as it is fighting with Tampa Bay and Carolina in a three-team battle for the division title.

But, although the Panthers were not close to the top of the Atlantic last season, they were holding a playoff position after beating the Blackhawks in Chicago.

The team took off for its All-Star break in control of their own destiny.

The wheels quickly came off once February came around.

Florida’s win in Chicago would be one of the last feel-good moments of the 2019-20 season.

Coming off a hard-fought 5-3 loss in Tampa on Sunday, the Panthers know better than to rest on any accomplishments from the first half of the season.

Things can change in a hurry. They know this as well as anyone.

If the Panthers want to keep the good times rolling, they’re going to have to continue to bring the intensity we have seen from them every night moving forward.

”I think us having the mindset of us taking it day-by-day and only worrying about the next opponent is going to be beneficial for us,” Aaron Ekblad said.

“I don’t think anyone is watching the standings right now. We’re just going to take it day-by-day, go on to the next game and try and win it. That has to be the mentality we have. We can’t worry about anything but winning the next game.”

Florida came out of Tampa tied for second in the league in points and wins, fourth in goals scored  and second in shots on goal.

This is a good team. This is a playoff team. But the Panthers have to want more than just that.

It sounds like they are.

”We’re feeling good and happy with where we’re at,” Chris Driedger said.

“But we’re not done yet. We have another half of the season ahead of us and we can’t be happy with what we have done. We have to keep going and finish up strong.”

Florida Panthers at Chicago Blackhawks

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 — 27 Eetu Luostarinen — 74 Owen Tippett

19 Mason Marchment — 55 Noel Acciari — 94 Ryan Lomberg

FLORIDA DEFENSEMEN

52 MacKenzie Weegar — 5 Aaron Ekblad

42 Gus Forsling — 6 Anton Stralman

3 Keith Yandle — 7 Radko Gudas

FLORIDA GOALIES

60 Chris Driedger

72 Sergei Bobrovsky

Scratches: F Vinnie Hinostroza, F Juho Lammikko, D Markus Nutivaara

Injured: D Noah Juulsen (upper body)

Taxi squad: D Kevin Connauton, D Riley Stillman, F Brett Connolly, G Philippe Desrosiers

Florida power play (25/98 25.5% — 10th in NHL)

Florida penalty kill (77/95 81% — 11th in NHL)

PP1: Sasha Barkov, Jonathan Huberdeau, Patric Hornqvist, Aaron Ekblad, Keith Yandle

PP2: Alex Wennberg, Frank Vatrano, Anthony Duclair, Carter Verhaeghe, Gus Forsling

PROJECTED CHICAGO BLACKHAWKS LINES

CHICAGO FORWARDS

12 Alex DeBrincat — 64 David Kampf — 88 Patrick Kane

8 Dominic Kubalik —24 Pius Suter — 38 Brandon Hagel

13 Mattias Janmark — 22 Ryan Carpenter — 17 Dylan Strome

52 Reese Johnson — 34 Carl Soderberg — 23 Philipp Kurashev

CHICAGO DEFENSEMEN

2 Duncan Keith — 5 Connor Murphy

44 Calvin De Haan —27 Adam Boqvist

16 Nikita Zadorov — 51 Ian Marshall

CHICAGO GOALIES

32 Kevin Lankinen

30 Malcolm Subban

Chicago power play (28/100 28% — 3rd in NHL)

Chicago penalty kill (71/98 72.4% — 28th in NHL)

PP1: Ryan Carpenter, Dylan Strome, Patrick Kane, Alex DeBrincat, Adam Boqvist

PP2: Mattias Janmark, Pius Sutter, Philipp Kurashev, Duncan Keith, Dominik Kubalik