RALEIGH – One step closer to opening night.
Taking the flight up north, the Florida Panthers will travel to North Carolina to take on the Carolina Hurricanes at Lenovo Center on Wednesday at 6 p.m. ET.
It’ll be the first time the Panthers return to the Carolina barn since winning the Prince of Wales Trophy as the Eastern Conference champions.
Playing in their second preseason game, the Hurricanes lost to the Tampa Bay Lightning 2-1 on Monday at Lenovo Center.
“I take these games super seriously,” forward Gracyn Sawchyn said following the team’s morning skate at Baptist Health IcePlex. “It’s training camp, so having the same mindset no matter if it’s preseason or whatever, I’m trying my best.”
After some hard fought games in Nashville for the team’s preseason opening doubleheader, without any of the Stanley Cup roster, the team fell 5-0 and 5-3.
Defenseman Mike Benning brought the scoring touch, lighting the lamp twice in game two.
In those games, goaltenders Brandon Bussi and Daniil Tarasov made 16 and 15 saves, respectively.
Both on the ice during morning skate, it appears those will likely be the two traveling to Carolina.
“It might be harder for goalies than anybody else (in preseason games),” head coach Paul Maurice said after Sunday’s preseason doubleheader.
Still without any of the big guys, the prospects will have plenty of opportunities to show the coaching staff what they got and build chemistry with their teammates ahead of the season.
“All of the new guys, I’m just trying to learn their game, trying to find out what I think they do for a living,” said Maurice. “What are they good at? That’s a really important question to ask. What’s that guy good at? How do I fit him in? The returning players that we’ve had year over year, I’m just trying to anecdotally measure how much better they are. Do I think they’re fitter? Are they stronger? Are they grasping what we’ve done? We’re looking for progression and trying to measure that.
At the end of the day, it’s just about bringing the hard work and enjoying it.
“We try to create that environment for them so they can have an enjoyable experience here,” said Maurice. “We would say if they worked as hard as they could, there was nothing else for them to do, so they can enjoy training camp.”
Stay tuned for more information and lineups ahead of tonight’s tilt.
HOW TO WATCH
TV: WSFL, WHDT, WFTX, PanthersPlus.TV
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