Yahoo Sports Rematch against Jersey gives Panthers opportunity to quickly correct mistakes
The Florida Panthers will be looking at Thursday’s game against the New Jersey Devils as an opportunity.
Florida lost to the visiting Devils 4-1 on Tuesday but now get the opportunity to right the wrongs from their most recent defeat thanks to the unusual wrinkle in the schedule.
Panthers Head Coach Paul Maurice has been comparing the situation and how to prepare for it to that of a playoff series.
Facing the same team isn’t something that generally happens is close proximity during the regular season, let alone playing the same team in the same city with a day of rest between.
It allows the coaches and players to hone in on specific details and put to test the different ways they can try to evaluate and evolve from past situations.
"I think these are the places you get to work on your game quite a bit more,” Maurice said. “If we have a different opponent tomorrow, the things in our game that we would like to correct, because of the style that the next team plays, you may not know if you've got it, or if you've been able to make the adjustment. Was it a one-off in the game? Is it systemic in what you're doing? You have to have a slightly different plan for certain teams. We work hard at that. We like our players to experience it, that's a lot of our pre-scout is, especially for the younger players, teaching them the game in the NHL. The difference between teams and how you have to modify your game to have success."
Florida played Tuesday’s game without center Sam Bennett, who was a late scratch with an upper-body injury.
Maurice said initially that something tightened up on Bennett that morning and didn’t loosen up before the game.
Bennett didn’t practice on Wednesday but Maurice left the door open for him to return for Thursday’s rematch with Jersey.
“It feels better,” Maurice said. “We’ll get him on the ice tomorrow and get a good handle on it.”
The Cats will hold an optional morning skate at the Baptist Health IcePlex, after which Maurice will likely have an update on Bennett’s status.
It sounds like as long as there are no setbacks and he continues to feel good, there’s a good chance he’ll be back in the lineup, but remember, this is a team that always takes the cautious route with injuries, so if there is even the slightest little thing that isn’t quite right, they won’t rink playing Bennett and then losing him again for even longer.
In goal, Florida is expected to roll with Sergei Bobrovsky after giving Spencer Knight the start on Tuesday.
Bob enters the game with a strong 8-2-1 record and wins in each of his past five starts.
Here are the Panthers projected lines and for Thursday's rematch with Jersey:
Evan Rodrigues – Sasha Barkov – Sam Reinhart
Carter Verhaeghe – Sam Bennett – Matthew Tkachuk
Eetu Luostarinen – Anton Lundell – Jesper Boqvist
A.J. Greer – Tomas Nosek – Jonah Gadjovich
Gus Forsling – Aaron Ekblad
Niko Mikkola – Dmitry Kulikov
Nate Schmidt – Uvis Balinskis
Scratches: Mackie Samoskevich, Adam Boqvist
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