"Anything new is interesting," Panthers head coach Paul Maurice said after Monday's practice at FLA Live Arena. "You can get so routine in the NHL. The schedule is the same thing, right? Anything that's kind of out of the ordinary should be fun.
"We should take it and enjoy it. It should be a great intimate atmosphere in a smaller building. Every single one of these guys grew up and had great games in those kind of buildings. I think we're all looking forward to it."
While the spectacle will certainly be interesting, the Panthers have their sights set on picking up two more points after putting on a show of their own at FLA Live Arena against the Ottawa Senators on Saturday.
Making a one-game pit stop at home in between road trips, the Panthers pelted Ottawa's net with a franchise-record 58 shots on goal en route to a 5-3 win. Named the first star of the game, Brandon Montour dished out two assists and scored to put Florida up 4-3 late in the third period.
Joining Montour, Carter Verhaeghe (two goals, one assist), Aleksander Barkov (one goal, two assists) and Matthew Tkachuk (one goal, two assists) also tallied three points each in the win.
With Aaron Ekblad still working his way back from a lower-body injury, Montour leads Florida's defensemen in goals (3) and points (8) while averaging more than 25 minutes of ice time per game.
"My main focus is just being consistent," Montour said. "With Ekky out, you get relied on a little bit more. I believe in myself in this league. I've shown it in the last bit of my career. Any time my name gets called, I'm happy to get out there, work hard and help the team any way that I can."
Sitting at 5-3-1, the Panthers will play seven games on the road in November.
"It feels like we've been playing a lot of games on the road lately," said Verhaeghe, whose eight points trail only Tkachuk's 13 on the Panthers. "It feels good to come back here for one game and get the win, but it's going to be fun getting on the road and bonding with the guys."
After opening up their season with six straight games on the road, the Coyotes have dropped the first two games in their new arena, including suffering a 3-2 loss at the hands of the New York Rangers on Sunday.
Leading 2-1 midway through the second period on goals from Nick Bjugstad and Lawson Crouse, Arizona went on to surrender two unanswered goals to end up empty-handed. In net, Connor Ingram looked sharp even in defeat, turning aside 36 of 39 shots for the Coyotes.
"I thought we played good, but it came down to a penalty kill and they have such a good power play," said Bjugstad, referencing Mika Zibanejad's game-winning goal on the power play at 12:56 of the third period.
South Florida native Shayne Gostisbehere leads the Coyotes and ranks third among NHL defensemen with four goals. Gostisbehere is also tied with Clayton Keller for the team's scoring lead with eight points, while five other players on the roster have accumulated five points.
Owning the 31st-ranked defense in the NHL with an average of 4.38 goals allowed per game, the Coyotes have been utilizing both Ingram and Karel Vejmelka between the pipes. While each netminder has picked up one win, neither has been able to get their save percentage over .900.
Florida owns a 7-1-1 record over its last nine meetings with Arizona.
