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      1/25/21 Practice

      In today's Baptist Health Practice Notebook, the Panthers are preparing to get back to action after a week of practice, two defensemen head to the AHL, and Markus Nutivaara is very close to returning.
      SUNRISE, Fla. -The Florida Panthers won't have much time to catch their breath from here on out.
      Starting with Tuesday's matchup against the Columbus Blue Jackets, the Panthers, who've already had four games postponed through no fault of their own, are scheduled to play 54 games over the next 102 days. That means at least three games a week (and often four) until the regular season ends on May 8.

      Of course, that's also just how the schedule is shaping up right now. With series against both the Dallas Stars and Carolina Hurricanes already being postponed, there's always a chance that, with the uncertainty of playing during a pandemic, even more games could be end up being pushed back later on.
      With that in mind, the Panthers aren't focusing on playing 54 games in 102 days. All they can do is look ahead to the next game on the schedule and be ready.
      "It is what it is," goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky said after Monday's practice at BB&T Center. "It's the circumstances that we're in. We don't have the choice. We just have to approach it day by day. We had that Dallas situation when the league skipped the game because of the virus, and now it's the second time. I'm not going to be surprised if it's going to be a third time. That's just the reality that we're living in. We had a good practice. We had a good rest. All the guys are excited and ready to go tomorrow."
      After opening up their season with consecutive victories over the Chicago Blackhawks, the Panthers did their best over the past week to maintain as much of that momentum as possible during practice. By the time they drop the puck against Columbus, it will have been one week since their last competitive game.
      To stay sharp, they held an instrasquad scrimmage, but also kept things light at times to boost morale.
      Overall, coach Joel Quenneville believes that, although it might take part of the first period for players to get back up to speed, it shouldn't take the Panthers too much time to pick up right where they left off.
      "I think it's just getting ourselves up to that consistent pace of getting into a routine, whether it takes five minutes, 10 minutes into the first period to catch up," Quenneville said. "When you're keeping it simple and keeping yourself in the play, I think we'll get back to where we need to be rather rapidly."
      Looking at the lines during practice, it doesn't seem like there will be that many changes tomorrow against the Blue Jackets. For the forwards, the top-nine remained the same, while Vinnie Hinostroza, who spent part of this week in Group 2, was back with Noel Acciari and Brett Connolly on the fourth line. As for defensemen, the only notable change was Gustav Forsling being back alongside Anton Stralman.
      While we won't know who exactly is lining up where until tomorrow's morning skate, Quenneville did announce that Bobrovsky, who made 32 saves in his lone start of the season in a 5-4 overtime win over the Blackhawks on Jan. 19, will be the man between the pipes for Florida in Game 1 against Columbus.
      Given that he only had a few days of practice until he made his first start, Bobrovsky, who missed the start of training camp while on the unfit to play list, feels he put this week's extra practice to good use.
      "We're going to get our rhythm," said Bobrovsky, who spent seven seasons with the Blue Jackets prior to signing with the Panthers in the summer of 2019. "This week we're going to have four games. We're going to play lots of hockey. The season is short -- it's like a sprint.
      "The hockey world gave us a little bit of time before [the season] to work on our stuff and get prepared. Especially in my circumstances, I took advantage of this extra ice time because before the Chicago game I was only practicing for five days. It's good for me to play a game, have a little rest and get prepared for tomorrow's game and then get the rhythm and get going."

      DEPTH ON DEFENSE

      The Panthers certainly aren't lacking defenseman this season.
      After claiming both Forsling and Noah Juulsen off waivers earlier this month, the team entered this past weekend with 11 blueliners listed among their roster, non-roster and taxi squad players. So, in order to trim that number down just a bit, Riley Stillman and Brady Keeper were reassigned the AHL on Saturday.
      By the end of the season, Quenneville said he expects all of these defensemen to see the ice in Sunrise.
      "We want these guys playing in the interim so we can assess the station with our D," Quenneville said of the roster move. "With 11 [defensemen], there's a lot of moving parts going on with the taxi squad and guys playing as well… Right now, we still have a couple guys we have to sort out that we have to see play as well. That's all part of it. In the meantime, get playing. "
      To stay up to date on Stillman, Keeper and other Panthers prospects currently competing in the AHL, follow @SyracuseCrunch on Twitter.

      NUTIVAARA GETTING CLOSER

      Another reason for the aforementioned roster moves is that one defenseman is getting close to a return.
      After spending much of training camp stuck on the unfit to play list, Markus Nutivaara will join the Panthers on their trip to Columbus and is "extremely close to playing," according to Quenneville.
      Acquired by Florida in a trade with the Blue Jackets during the offseason, the 26-year-old blueliner recorded nine points (three goals, six assists) in 36 games in 2019-20. A calming presence on the back end, the Oulu, Finland native has never owned a negative goal differential in any of his first four NHL seasons.
      During this morning's practice, he was paired with Juulsen during drills.
      "We'd love to see him in a game," Quenneville said. "We have a couple guys that we haven't seen yet. Juulsen is another defenseman as well in the same situation. Right now, early in the year, they'll all get a chance to play. "We haven't had that pure assessment evaluation… I look forward to seeing him play. I like the way he moves in practice. He looks very comfortable out there with possession and how he moves. We'll get to find out here quickly."

      MONDAY'S PRACTICE LINES

      Forwards
      Carter Verhaeghe - Aleksander Barkov - Anthony Duclair
      Jonathan Huberdeau - Alex Wennberg - Patric Hornqvist
      Frank Vatrano - Eetu Luostarinen - Owen Tippett
      Vinnie Hinostroza - Noel Acciari - Brett Connolly
      Defensemen
      MacKenzie Weegar - Aaron Ekblad
      Gustav Forsling - Anton Stralman
      Keith Yandle - Radko Gudas
      Markus Nutivaara - Noah Juulsen
      Goalies
      Sergei Bobrovsky
      Chris Driedger
      Philippe Desrosiers
      Group 2: Ryan Lomberg, Juho Lammikko, Aleksi Heponiemi, Mason Marchment, Kevin Connauton and Philippe Desrosiers (he participated in both groups).