NOTEBOOK: Back from break, Panthers ready to 'come out flying again'

In today's Baptist Health Practice Notebook, the Panthers get back to work after a long break.
SUNRISE, Fla. - "A lot of fun. A lot of smiles. A lot of tans."
That's how MacKenzie Weegar summed up Friday's practice at FLA Live Arena as the Panthers returned to the ice for the first time since players went their separate ways for the NHL All-Star break a little less than two weeks ago.

"We're going to come out flying again," Weegar said confidently. "We're all well rested now."
It's the "again" portion of that statement that really sticks out.
After all, the Panthers have made a habit out of returning from extended breaks with a head full of steam - a positive trend that began with their eight-game winning streak to open the season and was further fortified by their nine-game point streak (8-0-1) that followed the holiday break.
When asked about this ability to stop and start without skipping a beat, Aaron Ekblad, who teamed up with Weegar on the blue line to form one of the league's top-defensive tandems in the first half of the season, said that there's really no complex secret to the team's success.
To get better at anything, it starts and ends with practice.
"The practices that we do have, we go all out," said Ekblad, who ranks sixth among NHL defensemen in scoring with 41 points (10 goals, 31 assists). "I could see it on Day 1 here. We were battling in the corners pretty hard. That's a good attribute of our team. We practice hard."
Shaking the rust off right away, the Panthers really pushed the tempo during this afternoon's session, which concluded with a unique and intense battle drill to help get the blood pumping.
With the action contained to one side of the ice and a line of sticks splitting the frozen sheet down the middle, two goaltenders - Sergei Bobrovsky and Jonas Johansson - each manned a net on the goal line while players battled it out in front of them trying to either defend or score.
Even though the play would initially start on only one half of the ice, players on the other side would immediately jump into action if the puck crossed the line of sticks and into their domain.
The result? Non-stop hockey.

"It's a good battle drill to get us back into things," Weegar said with a smile. "A little bit game-like, making the forwards think and making the D defend. It was a really good practice today."
In first place in the Atlantic Division with a record of 32-10-5, the Panthers, who won five of six games heading into the break, will have several more days of practice until they kick off a three-game trip with a big matchup against the Metropolitan Division-leading Hurricanes on Feb. 16.
Hoping to pick up right where they left off, the Panthers, despite a jam-packed schedule, were still firing on all cylinders in January, going 12-2-1 while racking up a league-leading 74 goals.
"I think that month of January was a lot of games and pretty taxing on us with a lot of travel," said Panthers interim head coach Andrew Brunette, who coached the Atlantic at the All-Star Game. "It was good to get a little rest. It seemed like they were really ready to go here today."

PRESENT AND ACCOUNTED FOR

It almost looked like training camp with all the Panthers that were on the ice this afternoon.
With the break giving players some extra time to heal up, formerly injured players like Maxim Mamin, Patric Hornqvist and Noel Acciari all looked no worse for wear throughout practice.
"Everyone is feeling healthy," Weegar said. "We're coming off the break feeling good."
Mamin has been out of action since Jan. 25, while Hornqvist hasn't played since Jan. 18.
Acciari, meanwhile, has yet to suit up this season after suffering an injury in the preseason.
When play resumes, Brunette said he expects all three players to be ready to go.
"They're all on schedule to get going here once we kick off," he said.
During practice, Hornqvist (18 points in 37 games) was back in his usual spot on the fourth line alongside Ryan Lomberg and Eetu Luostarinen, while Acciari was lining up alongside Frank Vatrano and Joe Thornton on a fifth line, and Mamin (nine points in 23 games) was cycling in.
When healthy, you'd be hard-pressed to find a team with more depth than that.
"Our team looks great right now," Weegar said.
Lacing up his skates in 41 games during the 2020-21 season, Acciari notched 11 points (four goals, seven assists), while also pacing all Panthers forwards in both hits (91) and blocks (63).
Working his way back, he played two games in the AHL on conditioning stint during the break.
"I was just happy he was able to play some games and feel the puck," Brunette said. "I thought he looked great in practice today. He's really worked hard to come back. We didn't expect him back this early, so credit to him. He's hungry to play."
Hungry? Appropriate for a hard-nosed player with the nickname like "Cookie."
"We're looking really good," Weegar said. "It's nice to see Cookie back. He's a big part of our team and a big leader on our team. All the guys love him. He looked great out there today."

SOAKING UP THE SUN

For the Panthers, time off meant spending a lot of hours at the beach.
Whether it was Weegar hitting the sands of the Bahamas or Ekblad spending a few days in South Beach, pretty much every player returned from the break sporting a tan on the ice today.
That being said, Gustav Forsling really impressed teammates with his noticeable glow.
"Forsy for me is kind of that Greek God," Weegar chuckled. "I'm sure he got lots of sun. He's pretty ripped, so I'm sure he loved to take his shirt off and make a nice bronze for himself."
Over the next few practices, stay tuned to learn how other Cats spent their vacation.

FRIDAY'S PRACTICE LINES

Forwards
Carter Verhaeghe - Aleksander Barkov - Anthony Duclair
Jonathan Huberdeau - Sam Bennett - Owen Tippett
Mason Marchment - Anton Lundell - Sam Reinhart
Ryan Lomberg - Eetu Luostarinen - Patric Hornqvist
Frank Vatrano - Joe Thornton - Noel Acciari
Maxim Mamin
Defensemen
MacKenzie Weegar - Aaron Ekblad
Gustav Forsling - Radko Gudas
Lucas Carlsson - Brandon Montour
Olli Juolevi
Goaltenders
Sergei Bobrovsky
Jonas Johansson