"He's worked hard on his game in the last few preseasons," Quenneville said of Bobrovsky's routine. "I think it's been the same M.O. for him. We've waited a little bit as camp goes on and then put him in the game. We expect him to play in two of our three games against Tampa as well. I think that'll be the progress we're looking to see. He's had a good attitude in camp."
Sitting at a perfect 3-0-0 in the preseason, the Panthers defeated the Stars 4-3 in a shootout on Wednesday in Dallas. Playing the role of hero, rookie Serron Noel tied the game with less than a minute left in regulation before going five-hole in the shootout to complete the wild comeback.
Noel, who will be in the lineup once again tonight, was one of seven different Panthers to earn at least one point in the win, with Mason Marchment and Eetu Luostarinen each recording two. In net, Gibson made 35 saves and stopped all three shooters he faced in the skills competition.
"They pushed and worked for one another," Quenneville said of Florida's youthful lineup following the win. "They're pretty excited after the win. The bench was good. They want to play. They want to play more. I thought it was pretty comparable contributions across the board."
After leaning on their rookies in Dallas, the Panthers will be going with more of a veteran-laden lineup in tonight's rematch as mainstays such as Aleksander Barkov, Jonathan Huberdeau, Sam Bennett, Carter Verhaeghe, Sam Reinhart, Aaron Ekblad and MacKenzie Weegar are expected to suit up.
With no shortage of weapons on the ice, we'll also get our first look at two new power play units.
Working on special teams for the first time during this morning's skate, it looks like the team's top unit tonight will feature Barkov, Huberdeau, Reinhart, Bennett and Ekblad, while the second unit will boast Verhaeghe, Frank Vatrano, Patric Hornqvist, Owen Tippett and Brandon Montour.
In 2020-21, the Panthers ranked 15th in the league with the man advantage at 20.5%.
"It's a healthy situation to be in as a coach," Quenneville said of the team's loaded power play. "The competitiveness can be healthy as well. The options that these guys have as far as where to go, what they can do, as far as their imagination with possession, once they get a little more comfort that predictability is going to enhance the power-play looks. There's some upside looking ahead. We expect them to be a big part of our offense and ignite our scoring as well."
Likewise, Bennett sees a lot of potential for both units to do some damage this season.
"It's a really talented group out there," said Bennett, who is holding down the bumper role on the first unit. "The way we're moving the puck around, it was good. It's going to be the first real test tonight, getting comfortable with each and making some good plays. Yeah, I'm really excited."
Still looking for their first win of the preseason, the Stars have gone 0-0-2 through their first two exhibitions, losing to the Blues in overtime before Wednesday's shootout loss to the Panthers.
Although it appears they're leaving some big names like Tyler Seguin, Jamie Benn and John Klingberg back home in the Lone Star State, regulars like Miro Heiskanen, Jason Robertson, Denis Gurianov and Esa Lindell are expected to lace up their skates against the Panthers.
In net, goaltenders Anton Khudobin and Colton Point will be available.
For those that played in Wednesday's game, tonight is a chance for redemption.
"It's cliché to say it's a preseason game and you get it all out, but we're a team where that's unacceptable right now and you can't just say it's preseason," Robertson told the Stars website after the loss to Florida. "We want to be a team coming into the regular season feeling great, feeling good, and this doesn't make us feel good. We have stuff to do and stuff to build on."
As for the Panthers, the goal is to continue checking boxes en route to the regular season.
"You're still trying to get up to game-speed," Bennett said. "It's a lot faster than what we've been doing all summer. You've still got to get up to game-speed, and then it's just the little things defensively, making plays on the tape. It's going to be good to get another test tonight."
Last season, Florida owned a 6-2-0 record against Dallas.
