Panthers to honor victims of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High shooting

SUNRISE, Fla. -- The Florida Panthers will honor the victims of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting when they play the Washington Capitals at BB&T Center on Thursday.

The game (7:30 p.m. ET; TVAS, FS-F, NBCSWA, NHL.TV) -- the Panthers' first at home since 17 people died in Parkland, Florida, on Feb. 14 -- will include a moment of silence, a pregame ceremony, a blood drive and fundraisers.
Stoneman Douglas is 3 1/2 miles from the Panthers' practice facility in Coral Springs, Florida, and 13 1/2 miles from BB&T Center. Some players live in Parkland and had kids in school nearby; goaltender Roberto Luongo's 7-year-old son, Gianni, was in lockdown in a closet for three hours. Some staff members are Stoneman Douglas alumni.
"We all feel the pain and can't imagine what it's like to lose a child," Luongo said after the morning skate, wearing a Stoneman Douglas hat as both teams will during warmup. "It's pretty hard to take."

Luongo has lived in Parkland for more than 10 years and is building a house there, planning to make it his permanent home.
The day of the shooting, the Panthers were at the Vancouver Canucks. Luongo came off the ice after the morning skate and saw a notification on his phone. Gianni's school was on lockdown. Immediately he called his wife, Gina.
"She was obviously panicking," Luongo said.
A trainer told Luongo there was a shooter at Stoneman Douglas, less than a mile from Gianni's school. His 10-year-old daughter, Gabriella, was out of school because of a doctor's appointment and with Gina on the way to pick up Gianni.
"I was trying to talk to my wife," Luongo said. "Obviously she was very shaken up about it and had trouble speaking, but she was by the school just waiting. But at a certain point, they didn't have the shooter yet, so they told everybody to get back in their cars and wait there. There was a lot of confusion, needless to say, for a while there until obviously the shooter was apprehended. …
"My wife and obviously my daughter got to see the chaos that was in the area with all the police cars, helicopters, sirens all over the place, people crying, screaming."
Gianni was safe in the closet with his classmates.
"He didn't really know exactly what was happening," Luongo said. "I think it's afterwards when you see everything around and you want to see the TV and see the news that he got scared."

Forward Derek MacKenzie, the Panthers captain, has lived in Parkland for four years. He and his wife, Sarah, have an 8-year-old daughter, Reese, and 6-year-old son, Greyson, who go to school a couple of blocks from Stoneman Douglas. They were dismissed from school minutes before the shooting and weren't on lockdown.
"My wife was able to get them right away," MacKenzie said.
MacKenzie spoke to his wife as he usually does and didn't know the extent of the situation at the time. His wife didn't want to say too much in front of the kids.
"I briefly spoke with my wife, made sure everyone was OK and then kind of preceded with the pregame meal and nap," MacKenzie said. "And then I woke up a couple hours later and saw there was 17 victims."
Coach Bob Boughner said everyone on the Panthers seemed to know someone affected.
"Hopefully we can get through this and honor it appropriately and never forget what happened," Boughner said.

Eight OneBlood buses parked outside BB&T Center. Each had four beds, allowing as many as 32 people to help replenish blood banks every 20-30 minutes from 12-7 p.m. Six beds were to be set up inside the concourse so people could donate through the second intermission. JetBlue will provide snacks to those who give.
Panthers players will wear Stoneman Douglas stickers on their helmets and "MSD" patches on their sweaters, as they will for the rest of the season.
The Florida Panthers Foundation will collect donations during the blood drive and the game. The donations and proceeds from the 50/50 raffle will go to the Stoneman Douglas Victims Fund through the Broward Education Foundation. The foundation and the NHL will match the donations and contribute $50,000 to the raffle.

A limited number of "MSD" patches will be sold in Pantherland Red & White for $10, the proceeds going to the Broward Education Fund. The proceeds from Fanatics Game Used Auction items will benefit the Broward Education Foundation.
"When it hits close to home like that, it's hard," Luongo said. "You just want to help as much as you can and grieve with those families."