5 Takeaways: Quenneville 'Liked the Tempo' of Panthers' Lone Scrimmage

SUNRISE, Fla. - With no preseason tune-ups to help them prepare for their Opening Night matchup against the Dallas Stars on Jan. 14, the Florida Panthers did a little bit of everything during their lone instrasquad scrimmage of training camp on Thursday night at BB&T Center.
Carter Verhaeghe, Owen Tippett and Mason Marchment each scored twice for Team Red, which ran away with an 8-1 win over Team White. Also lighting the lamp for Team Red was Eetu Luostarinen and Max Gildon. Noel Acciari, meanwhile, had the lone goal for Team White.

Between the pipes, Chris Driedger (Team White) and Sam Montembeault (Team Red) started.
"It was good to work out the kinks in the first one and get it out of the way," Driedger said.
With crowd noise being pumped into the building, the first 40 minutes of the game played out as you'd expect. After that, however, the Panthers bent the rules a bit and worked only on special teams during the third period. To close it out, they went through a full overtime and a shootout.
In the skills competition, Team White won 3-2 on goals from Frank Vatrano, Alex Wennberg and Aleksi Heponiemi. Anthony Duclair and Jonathan Huberdeau each touched twine for Team Red.

"I liked the tempo of the game," Quenneville said. "I liked the setup at the rink here with the crowd noise. I thought it was fun."
The next time the Panthers take the ice, however, the crowd noise will be real. Want to check out the action? Single-game tickets will go on sale HERE beginning on Friday at 10 a.m. ET.
In the meantime, here are five takeaways from the scrimmage…

1. THE CARTER

From start to finish, Verhaeghe was noticeable on the ice.
Starting on a line with a talented pair of rookies in Luostarinen and Tippett, the 25-year-old forward also saw ample time on the power play. On the man advantage in the first period, he collected a smooth pass from Marchment and buried a backhander to make it 2-0 Team Red.

"He's doing a lot of good things," Quenneville said of Verhaeghe, who led the AHL in goals (34) and points (82) in 2018-19. "Whether it's scoring goals, making plays or doing the right things in the puck area, he's very noticeable. I like his compete from the start of the shift until the end."
In the third period, Verhaeghe blasted home a one-timer to put Team Red up 7-1.

Preparing for his first season with the Panthers after the team inked him to a two-year deal during free agency, Verhaeghe notched 13 points (nine goals, four assists) while averaging just 9:22 of ice time over 52 games with the Tampa Bay Lightning during the 2019-20 campaign.
Helping the Bolts on their run to the Stanley Cup, he tallied two assists in eight playoff games.
"I think he stood out not just today, but every single day we've been here," Quenneville said.

2. TIPPETT GOOD

Tippett continues to make a strong case for a roster spot.
Finding the back of the net twice in the second period, the 21-year-old sniper showed off the offensive skills that have had fans salivating ever since the Cats took him 10th overall in 2017.

"Tipp has got all the makings to be a real power forward in the league," Quenneville said. "I think he could be a real top-scorer consistently - season in, season out. Putting it all together, that consistency is something I really think he's improving at."
Showing off his scoring touch during his first professional season, Tippett led Florida's AHL affiliate in both goals (19) and points (40) during the 2019-20 campaign and appeared in to be on the cusp of a deserved call-up before an unfortunate injury knocked him out of the lineup.
Feeling great and more motivated than ever, it looks like he's picking up right where he left off.

"He's got a great knack of knowing where the open spaces are," Quenneville said. "He can get a shot off at the highest level of the top scorers in our game. It's just a matter of time of putting it all together. He's got the makings of being a real good NHL player."

3. LUOSTARINEN LOOKS SOLID

There was a common theme with Tippett's aforementioned goals tonight.
Both were assisted by Luostarinen.
Acquired from the Carolina Hurricanes at last year's trade deadline, the Finnish center, who was taken in the second round (42nd overall) in the 2017 NHL Draft, put up good numbers during his first professional season in 2019-20, racking up eight goals and 17 assists in 49 AHL contests.
Making his NHL debut in November, he recorded one assist in eight games with the Canes.
"I thought he had a nice night," Quenneville said.

Not just a gifted playmaker, Luostarinen also showed off his scoring touch as well tonight, flying down the slot before slamming on the breaks, taking a pass from Anthony Duclair and rocketing a heavy one-timer into the back of the net to send Team Red ahead 6-1 early in the third period.
"I was feeling pretty good chemistry with Tippett and Verhaeghe," Luostarinen said.
Prior to camp getting underway, Luostarinen said he benefitted from being able to play a few games in Liiga - the top professional league in Finland. Producing at nearly a point-per-game clip with KalPa, he recorded five goals and 10 assists in 17 games before heading to Florida.
"I think that was a good deal for me," Luostarinen said. "I got a lot of ice time there."

4. MARCHMENT MARCHES ON

Marchment succeeded in catching Quenneville's attention tonight.
After teeing up Verhaeghe for a goal in the first period, the bulky forward (he's listed at 6-foot-4 and 220 pounds) went on to register two of his own, including burying an absolute cannon from the high slot with 9.2 seconds left in the second period to extend Team Red's advantage to 6-1.

"I thought he's coming on in training camp," Quenneville said. "I think he gives us some size. He's got some deceiving quickness and he can shoot the puck. He had a nice night."
Brought over to the Panthers in a trade with the Toronto Maple Leafs a few days before last year's deadline, Marchment notched 13 goals and seven assists in 30 AHL games in 2019-20.
"I honestly just tried to play my game," Marchment said of his big night. "We only get one scrimmage. It was nice to finally get back into a game-tempo kind of thing. I felt good."

5. SPECIAL TEAMS WORK

The Panthers spent the entire third period working on special teams.
After kicking off the final frame with some 5-on-4 work to give both players on the power play and penalty kill a few looks, the action then tuned to 4-on-4. From there, a few more scenarios took place before the game ended with five minutes of 3-on-3 overtime followed by a shootout.
"It's hard to simulate that stuff in practice," Quenneville said.
With not much time at their disposal, Quenneville said getting a full period of strictly special teams work in the books was crucial. After all, with so many new faces in camp, there's several spots up for grabs on both units. Tonight, more than a few of them made a very strong case.
In 2019-20, Florida ranked 10th on the power play (21.3%) and 20th on the penalty kill (78.5%).
"I think it's going to be that type of group where performance is going to get you more quality ice time," Quenneville said. "I think that today you got to see some guys that look like they wanted to take advantage of that situation. It was good in some ways for a lot of guys."

THE STARTING LINEUPS

Team White
Forwards
Frank Vatrano - Alex Wennberg - Brett Connolly
Vinnie Hinostroza - Noel Acciari - Ryan Lomberg
Grigori Denisenko - Aleksi Heponiemi - Scott Wilson
Defensemen
MacKenzie Weegar - Aaron Ekblad
Keith Yandle - Kevin Connauton
John Ludvig - Jake Massie
Goaltenders
Chris Driedger
Team Red
Forwards
Jonathan Huberdeau - Aleksander Barkov - Anthony Duclair
Carter Verhaeghe - Eetu Luostarinen - Owen Tippett
Mason Marchment - Cole Schwindt - Serron Noel
Defensemen
Riley Stillman - Anton Stralman
Brady Keeper - Radko Gudas
Max Gildon - Chase Priskie
Goaltenders
Sam Montembeault
Philippe Desrosiers