Confident Florida Panthers preparing for second round opponent, whoever it may be
Florida will eventually face either Boston or Toronto in round two
The Florida Panthers are currently in a position that NHL teams strive to be in.
Florida is in that beautiful limbo space between winning a playoff series and waiting to find out who you’ll be playing next and when that next series begins.
The time off allows the Panthers time to rest and recover from their heavy hitting series against the Tampa Bay Lighting and allow players battling injuries to heal as much as they can.
“It’s good to get some rest,” said Panthers Head Coach Paul Maurice. “Not so much fatigue, but just bruises, right? The standard minor injuries that players get in every game. You’ve got lots of guys blocking shots and things like that. They get a little rest, and they get cleaned up, you get ahead of it. That’s the great part.”
When the Panthers take the ice for the first post-Tampa series practice on Wednesday at the Baptist Health IcePlex in Fort Lauderdale, they are expected to be almost completely at full strength.
The only player who won’t be practicing with the team is center Sam Bennett, who has not played since leaving Game 2 against the Lightning after being hit in the area of his hand and wrist by a Brandon Montour slapshot.
Maurice said Wednesday that Bennett would skate on his own, and that there is an expectation that he’ll return at some point during round two.
Speaking of the second round, Florida’s opponent will either be the Boston Bruins or Toronto Maple Leafs, depending on which team comes out on top of their opening round series.
Entering play Thursday, Boston leads the best-of-7 opening round matchup by a 3-2 margin. Toronto hosts Game 6 on Thursday night.
Regardless of how long the series lasts, once a winner is ultimately crowned, Maurice’s squad will be ready for whichever team comes out on top.
The preparation will have been the same.
“Now you’re working twice as hard as you’d like to be, because you’ve got two teams you’ve got to video prep for,” Maurice said. “But there’s not that much aberration in anybody’s game now that these guys haven’t’ seen before.
Fortunately for Florida, whether it’s the Bruins or Maple Leafs that advance, there is a good amount familiarity among the division rivals, as they’ve all had to prepare for and battle one another in the regular season and the playoffs.
It should make for an entertaining playoff series.
“They know us, we know them,” Maurice said. “In a 13-month period, those are the two teams we probably know the best, because we only played Tampa three times this year and we didn’t play them in the playoffs, so whatever advantage you might have, the other team has the same prep time.”
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