The Panthers’ young core is back in the postseason after years of falling just short
Aaron Ekblad was only 20 the last time the Florida Panthers were in the postseason.
He was in his second season with the Panthers — less than two years removed from being the No. 1 pick in the 2014 NHL Entry Draft — and a key component of the young core which was supposed to turn Florida into a perennial playoff team for the first time.
His first trip — and the first trip for other stalwarts like Jonathan Huberdeau and Aleksander Barkov — lasted six games before the New York Islanders bounced the Panthers out of the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs. It took them more than four years to finally reach the postseason again.
“It’s really exciting,” Ekblad said Thursday. “It’s something we’ve been dreaming about for a long time, and we’re finally here and we want to seize this opportunity.”
On Saturday, Florida will take part in an NHL postseason — albeit an expanded one because of the COVID-19 pandemic — for just the sixth time in franchise history. It’s a best-of-5 series against the Islanders in the qualifying round — a chance for the Panthers to avenge their loss in 2016 and reach the traditional 16-team Cup playoffs.
After more than four months without playing a consequential game, Florida quickly has to ramp up for one of the most meaningful games in franchise history at 4 p.m. in Toronto.
“For a lot of guys on our team, it’s excitement, it’s nerves and the first couple shifts will be ramped up right away,” said winger Brett Connolly, won won a Stanley Cup with the Washington Capitals in 2018. “Guys are excited, and it’s wide open and I think guys believe that we can do it. It’s going to start right away, for sure. Hopefully, we can get a win in Game 1, but it’s a little series and hopefully we can win three games here.”
All throughout postseason training camp in Coral Springs earlier this month and their final practices this week inside the NHL’s Ontario “secure zone,” the Panthers have downplayed the idea of a 2016 rematch with New York. So much time has passed and the rosters are so severely different — particularly the Islanders’ — it’s easy to ignore the last time these two met in the playoffs.
Still, Florida has been craving just any sort of return to the postseason after years of disappointment followed the Panthers’ supposed breakthrough four years ago.
Ekblad and Barkov, the No. 2 pick in the 2013 NHL Entry Draft, are now 24 and entering their prime years. Huberdeau, the No. 3 pick in the 2011 NHL Entry Draft, is 27 and in the thick of his prime.
There’s a reason Florida entered this season with massive expectations, especially given the offseason additions of Vezina Trophy-winning goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky and Stanley Cup-winning coach Joel Quenneville. Even if they were ahead of schedule in making the playoffs in 2016, the Panthers are supposed to be entering their window of Cup contention.
When the coronavirus outbreak abruptly ended the regular season in March, Florida had uphill climb to reach the postseason. The NHL’s restart plan instead let the Panthers mostly erase a disappointing regular season in just five games.
“There’s always been talks about just continuing the season and playing to the end,” Barkov said July 13. “Once we got the news that we’re in the qualifications for the playoffs and we’re going to play, ever since then everybody on our team has been excited and ready for this opportunity.
Before a playoff run can begin, though, Florida has to win three games against New York at Scotiabank Arena.
Even Friday, the Panthers were still talking about their 5-0 exhibition loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning on Wednesday. No one really knew what to expect from the exhibition games in Canada and Florida was entirely unprepared for the rival Lightning.
Quenneville and Barkov both called it “a wake-up call,” and Quenneville said his team has responded with anger in the two practices since.
The league’s playoff format welcomes unpredictability, both through the long layoff and the five-game qualifying series. The Panthers’ season could be over by Wednesday or an improbable postseason run could just be starting.
“It’s not normal you’re coming off the game we just had, so that’s certainly got our attention going into tomorrow,” Quenneville said. “We’ve got to be better than we were the other night by a mile and we’ve got to be better than we were most of the season.”
