Paul Maurice skated the Panthers extremely hard during Thursday's practice. Here's why.
Florida has just two games over a span of nine days, but things change quickly after that
David Dwork - Paul Maurice skated the Panthers extremely hard during Thursday's practice. Here's why.The Florida Panthers are about to enter a very difficult stretch of their early-season schedule.
Before they do though, there is a proverbial calm before the storm.
Following the Cats’ 3-1 win over the San Jose Sharks on Tuesday, Florida entered a block where it has just two games in a nine-day span.
Things go a little bananas after that, with the Panthers playing nine games over the following 16 days, only three of which coming on home ice.
Considering the team had some flexibility in its schedule before things kicked up a notch, Florida Head Coach Paul Maurice had a little surprise for his players on Thursday.
“We gave them a little but extra here today,” Maurice said following the team’s practice at Amerant Bank Arena.
Reminiscent of the first week of training camp, Maurice put the players though a tiring skating and checking drill that took place after the x’s and o’s portion of practice had ended.
The drill consists of Maurice lining up ten pucks along the center red line and the players all pairing up into groups of two.
Each group then takes turns, depending on jersey color, battling 1-on-1 for a puck along the boards before taking off for three laps around the rink.
After each group has gone once, Maurice shoots a puck down the ice.
Rinse.
Repeat.
Maurice explained afterwards that his decision to skate the team was due to the lull in the schedule and seeing an opening to give the boys a little push.
“It’s a week block where we play one game in six days, and we have two days off ice,” he said.
There were no hidden messages or disciplinary elements to it.
It was simply an opportunity for a little extra work.
“We pushed them a little harder than they thought they were getting today,” he said with a smirk. “We’ll ease off them tomorrow.”
Florida will hold one more practice on Friday before wrapping up its four-game homestand Saturday night when the Seattle Kraken come to Sunrise.
There is hope that the Panthers will get both Sasha Barkov (illness) and Sam Bennett (lower-body injury) in the lineup, which would be a big boost to Florida’s forward ranks.
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