Florida is hosting the Predators for preseason games beginning at 2 p.m. and 6 p.m. Monday
The Florida Panthers have been putting in the work during the first few days of training camp.
Challenging and physically demanding practices have been the theme, as Panthers Head Coach Paul Maurice prepares his players to spend the entire season playing at the level they did during last year’s march to the Stanley Cup Final.
On Monday, Florida will host the Nashville Predators in a preseason doubleheader at Amerant Bank Arena. The puck drops on the first game at 2 p.m. followed by a 6 p.m. start time for game two.
It will be the first opportunity for many of the fringe players to show what they’ve got, as Maurice has said multiple times that the exhibition games will be the best way for players, particularly those who play a more physical style, to stand out and show their worth.
That’s notable because Florida plays a hard-checking, foreboding style of hockey, one that requires utilizing the difficult combination of physicality, endurance, effort and intelligence, to know where to go and what to do in the blink of an eye, or perhaps more appropriately, the bounce of a puck.
Over the first four days of training camp, the Panthers 59-man camp roster has been split into two groups. It’s expected that those groups will remain intact on Monday, with each playing in one of the preseason games.
Maurice said on Sunday that aside from the injured guys, everyone would play on Monday.
While we don’t know exactly what the lines and pairings will look like, below you’ll find what the Cats were running during camp.
Red Team
Evan Rodrigues – Sasha Barkov – Grigori Denisenko
Eetu Luostarinen – Anton Lundell – Mackie Samoskevich
Brett Ritchie – Steven Lorentz – Zac Dalpe
Skyler Brind’Amour – Wilmer Skoog – Sandis Vilmanis/Rasmus Asplund
Oliver Ekman-Larsson – Gus Forsling
Uvis Balinskis – Mike Reilly
Lucas Carlsson – John Ludvig
Marek Alscher – Mike Benning / Luke Coughlin
Spencer Knight - Anthony Stolarz - Ludovic Waeber
Blue Team
Nick Cousins – Sam Bennett – Matthew Tkachuk
Ryan Lomberg – Gracyn Sawchyn – Sam Reinhart
The above line actually started with Carter Verhaeghe on the left. He tweaked a muscle during the first day of camp and has yet to return to regular practice, but he has been skating with other injured players (Aaron Ekblad, Brandon Montour, Jonah Gadjovich and as of Sunday, Liam Arnsby).
Justin Sourdif – Kevin Stenlund – Gerry Mayhew
Ryan McAllister – Alex True – Patrick Giles
Josh Mahura – Dmitry Kulikov
Niko Mikkola – Casey Fitzgerald
Evan Nause – Matt Kiersted
Calle Sjalin – Zachary Uens / Santtu Kinnunen
Sergei Bobrovsky - Mack Guzda - Evan Cormier