Panthers’ four-day break is unusual, but welcome. ‘We’ll be a little bit more sorted out’
The games are about to become much more meaningful for the Florida Panthers.
The 2021 Stanley Cup playoffs are set to start sometime in the next two weeks or so. No matter what, the Panthers will go into their final two games of the regular season with a chance to clinch a top two seed in the Central Division and home-ice advantage in the first round of the playoffs.
It turns out it’s actually the perfect time for a four-day break between games.
“It’s a little different than what we’re used to, but we’re not making the schedule,” forward Alex Wennberg said Monday. “Right now, this is what it is. Obviously, it’s nice to have a couple days in between to rest up and figure a few things out.”
Florida beat the Dallas Stars, 5-4, in overtime Monday and thus began this strange lull — a quirk of an only-in-a-pandemic schedule.
When the break began Tuesday, the Panther sat in sole possession of second place in the Central, with two more games played than both the first-place Carolina Hurricanes and third-place Tampa Bay Lightning. Their two division rivals needed time to catch up because of games lost due to COVID-19.
Florida will close the season with a pair of games against the Lightning on Saturday and Monday in Sunrise, and a sweep with at least one regulation win would guarantee the Panthers no worse than the No. 2 seed, no matter what Tampa Bay does for the rest of this week. They’re meaningful games, but not too meaningful — likely only the difference between who would host a potential Game 7 when they meet again in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs.
The long break means Florida, which has battled a slew of injuries throughout the last six weeks, will have to time to get close to full strength for the final two games of the regular season and playoffs.
“You can get away and think about what’s ahead of us, which is going to be a lot of fun, and look to that two-game set with Tampa,” coach Joel Quenneville said Monday. “We’ll be a little bit more sorted out, cleared out as to what that’s going to mean, as well.”
The Panthers won Monday despite missing three of their top six or seven forwards and starting their third-string goalie because of an injury to their reliable backup.
Quenneville is optimistic some combination all four will be back this weekend and Florida was able to be particularly cautious with some potentially minor ailments.
Sam Bennett, for example, was a surprise omission from the Monday lineup and Quenneville didn’t seem particularly concerned about the versatile forward’s upper-body injury. Forwards Patric Hornqvist and Carter Verhaeghe both traveled on the Panthers’ most recent road trip, which suggests they’re both close to returning.
Verhaeghe has missed 12 consecutive games and Hornqvist five, and there was virtually no urgency for either forward to play through pain with a spot in the Cup playoffs already locked up. The same is true for goaltender Chris Driedger, who actually tried to play hurt last week before Quenneville shut him down, feeling confident in rookie goaltender Spencer Knight to serve as Sergei Bobrovsky’s backup.
Returns ahead of the postseason would obviously help, though. Verhaeghe was locked in as Florida’s first-line left wing before his injury, and the wingers around star center Aleksander Barkov have been a revolving door since. Hornqvist could reasonably play anywhere from the top line to the third line. Bennett was locked in as the second-line center for a while, but he’s never played in the same lineup as Verhaeghe.
There’s a ton for the Panthers to still sort out before the playoffs begin. With two practices Thursday and Friday before two games to close out the regular season, Florida has one last chance to find come up with answers.
“We are discussing those options,” Quenneville said. “They’re going to be healthy [decisions] to make.”
This story was originally published May 5, 2021 at 12:05 PM.
