SUNRISE, Fla. — The lead-up to the Florida Panthers’ “chaotic” Thursday morning, as interim coach Andrew Brunette put it, started a day earlier. That was when five players entered the NHL’s COVID-19 protocols, a number that grew to seven 24 hours later.
The ramifications were felt later that night, when the Panthers’ game against the Los Angeles Kings went on as scheduled at FLA Live Arena. Florida played with a shell of its usual roster, using six players who weren’t with the team a week ago and four who were added from the club’s American Hockey League affiliate five hours before puck drop.
The end result seemed inevitable: Florida lost 4-1.
“Every team in the league has kind of had to go through this at some point,” Brunette said before the game. “I think if you asked us at the start of the year, we knew we’d be one of them at some point. We just have to patch it together the best we can.”
But the final score Thursday was essentially secondary in the grand scheme of things.
What matters most is what happens next, how the Panthers respond to their latest challenge.
Going through hurdles is nothing new for this Florida Panthers team, one with legitimate Stanley Cup aspirations.
Not this year.
Not after their head coach, Joel Quenneville, resigned seven games into the season over his role in the mishandling of a 2010 sexual assault allegation made by a former player against an assistant coach while Quenneville was the head coach of the Chicago Blackhawks.
Not after playing all but one game over the last month without team captain Aleksander Barkov, who missed eight games with a left knee injury only to sustain an upper-body injured his first game back and be sidelined for another four games and counting.
So the Panthers are muscling on yet again, finding a way to push through the latest obstacle thrown their way while staying near the top of the NHL’s standings.
“It’s not easy,” All-Star winger Jonathan Huberdeau said.
But the Panthers (18-7-4) worked with what they had.
Even if that meant playing with just 11 forwards and five defensemen — one less at each spot than usual — because they didn’t have enough healthy skaters on their roster.
Even if that meant playing that group of 16 didn’t include eight key contributors — forwards Sam Bennett, Carter Verhaeghe, Frank Vatrano and Ryan Lomberg in addition to defensemen Aaron Ekblad, Radko Gudas, Brandon Montour and Gustav Forsling (the last of whom is the only one not in COVID-19 protocols).
Even if it meant using four players who were just called up from the Charlotte Checkers, the Panthers’ AHL affiliate. That group included forwards Grigori Denisenko and Cole Schwindt in addition to defensemen Chase Priskie and Matt Kiersted.
(And don’t forget the Panthers had to call up Aleksi Heponiemi on Tuesday when Lomberg initially entered the league’s COVID-19 protocols).
Even with the situation presented to them, the Panthers still out-shot the Kings 42-31 and looked like the more aggressive team for a good portion of the night.
Kiersted scored his first career NHL goal late in the first period, a backhanded shot in the slot on a feed from Huberdeau, to give the Panthers an early 1-0 edge.
But the Kings’ Olli Maatta tied the game just about two minutes later. Los Angeles (13-10-5) took the lead for good with a two-goal second-period and added an insurance goal midway through the third period to hand Florida its fourth loss in the last five games.
The Panthers are set to embark on a two-game road trip, starting with a 2 p.m. game against the Minnesota Twins on Saturday and then continuing to the Chicago Blackhawks on Tuesday.
