Unpacking "Panthers Uncaged": What We Learned from Episode 5

Welcome to the latest installment of "Unpacking Panthers Uncaged" where we take a closer look into this week's "Panthers Uncaged," presented by Lexus. Let this serve as your spoiler warning, Cats fans - if you haven't watched episode five, check it out below.

WHAT WE LEARNED

1. The Panthers finally got to have their team picture day.

Say cheese! The Cats annual team photo - which was delayed due to the COVID-19 uncertainty - was taken as training camp concluded.

It's the little things, like putting the Florida Panthers sweater on, that help the players return to a sense of normalcy after months of the season being on pause.

"It was nice to throw it back on and get the look back, instead of having the blue, red, or white practice jerseys," said defenseman Josh Brown. "It was at the end of the camp too. It just drove home that we're going to actually play for real now. It was just nice to get those jerseys on."

While players and staff lined up to sit in to snap the picture, one feature stuck out as a significant sign of the times: everyone was wearing face coverings.

Images like this have become common place now as the world settles into what life is like during the pandemic, but even masked, viewers can spot captain Aleksander Barkov front and center, seemingly smiling between General Manager Dale Tallon and Head Coach Joel Quenneville.

2.This is Colton Sceviour's and Mark Pysyk's first postseason appearance.

While there's a handful of Florida Panthers that were on the roster during the last playoff series the team played in, there's a few new faces that will make a postseason debut.

"When I came here, it was after the first round loss to the Islanders," forward Colton Sceviour explained. "It's exciting to play in the playoffs."

Like Sceviour, Mark Pysyk joined the Panthers for the 2016-17 campaign.

"I think everybody is excited to get a chance to make the playoffs here," defenseman Mark Pysyk said. "I think everyone is excited for that, and there's obviously sacrifices to be made."

3.Postseason play means there's a lot of personal sacrifice.

For the players, traveling to Toronto to enter the bubble in preparation for the Stanley Cup Qualifying Round is as exciting as it gets. Unfortunately though, that means leaving their families in South Florida.

"We're going from one extreme to the other," Pysyk joked. "They're definitely going to be missed," he said, talking of his family. "It's going to be fun, though."

For all the guys, leaving family to play in the postseason is tough, but it just might be the toughest for veteran forward and now father Noel Acciari. Greyson Drew Acciari, the newest member of the Cats family, was born just a few weeks ago on July 7th.

"Not that he'll remember, but I will," the Panthers forward noted. "It's a tough pill to swallow, but being in the playoffs, you try to take your mind off it."

BEST MOMENT

Coach Q doing Coach Q things is something we never get tired of watching.

GIF OF THE EPISODE

Players may be away from their biological families, but they're together as one big Florida Panthers family.

CATCH UP ON "PANTHERS UNCAGED"

Fe-line like binging all the episodes of Panthers Uncaged? Watch them all Video: Panthers Uncaged: Episode 5.

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