NOTEBOOK: Verhaeghe, Ekblad Each Net 2 Goals in Scrimmage

In today's Baptist Health Practice Notebook, Carter Verhaeghe and Aaron Ekblad find the back of the net in Saturday's scrimmage, Derek MacKenzie works as a referee, and the Blue Jackets will look a lot different on Tuesday.
SUNRISE, Fla. - The Florida Panthers are doing whatever they can to stay sharp.
With their two games at the Carolina Hurricanes postponed this weekend, the Panthers held yet another instrasquad scrimmage - already their third since training camp opened earlier this month - on Saturday morning at BB&T Center in preparation for their next matchup at the Columbus Blue Jackets on Tuesday.

By the time the Panthers finally drop the puck against the Blue Jackets, it will have been exactly one week since they last took the ice in a 5-4 overtime win over the Chicago Blackhawks back on Jan. 19.
Sitting at 2-0-0 on the season, the Panthers are simply itching to keep building on their good start.
"I think you could tell they're at a point where they want to play real games," coach Joel Quenneville said. "After practice on Monday we'll travel and then get a real game and get playing again. This little off and on here, it is what it is. Let's recapture some of that energy that we had in the Chicago series."
Working on a little bit of everything, the scrimmage consisted off three 20-minute periods followed by a 5-minute, 3-on-3 overtime and then a shootout. With the clock continually running throughout, the first two periods were played strictly at 5-on-5, while the final 20 minutes focused solely on special teams.
In the end, Carter Verhaeghe and Aaron Ekblad each scored twice as Team Red defeated Team Blue 5-1.
Verhaeghe, who's tallied two goals and one assist through two games so far this season, also lit the lamp in the shootout, which safely locked him in as the unofficial "First Star of the Scrimmage" in my book.

Rolling with the punches, the Panthers are prepared for the points to start counting once again.
"It's a little bit different," said forward Alex Wennberg, who also scored for Team Red in the scrimmage. "You come in and you feel like you finally get going and then you get another week off -- not off, but like working out and practicing instead. That's a part of it. It's a different year and you've just got to be ready for everything. It's a been a good couple days of practicing, and I think this gets us a little more excited."

DMACK THE REF

Derek MacKenzie was rocking the whistle during this morning's scrimmage.
Serving as a referee, the assistant coach and former Panthers captain looked like he was having a blast throughout the game, really selling each and every one of his calls while keeping all of the players in line.
"I think he was mimicking some of the game's best referees with some of his mannerisms," Quenneville said with a chuckle. "I think we might see one of those referees on this trip."

As for the players on the ice, they joked that MacKenzie should probably stick to coaching.
"It was terrible, but he's trying at least," Wennberg laughed.
Hanging up his skates in 2019 after spending parts of 16 seasons in the NHL, MacKenzie, a fan favorite in South Florida during his playing days, is currently in his second season working on Quenneville's staff.

CHANGES IN COLUMBUS

The Blue Jackets will look quite different when the Panthers see them on Tuesday.
Setting every social media platform ablaze with comments this morning, Columbus ended up pulling the trigger on the first blockbuster trade of the 2020-21 season, shipping out center Pierre-Luc Dubois and a 2020 third-round pick to the Winnipeg Jets in exchange for sniper Patrik Laine and center Jack Roslovic.
The second-overall pick in the 2016 NHL Draft, Laine has already established himself as one of the most-prolific goal scorers in the league. Since making his debut in 2016-17, only eight players have scored more than his 140 goals. This past season, the 22-year-old tallied 28 goals and 35 assists in 68 games.
The 25th overall pick in 2015, Roslovic, 23, has recorded 26 goals and 41 assists in 180 career NHL games.
As for their availability against the Panthers next week, that remains to be seen. In addition to both of them having to go through COVID-19 safety protocols, Laine is currently on the injured reserve list and, as it always is when international players change countries, will likely have to sort out some visa issues. Starting with Tuesday's matchup, the Panthers will battle the Blue Jackets eight times this season.
"Laine can score with the best of them in the game," Quenneville said. "We look forward to the challenge of trying to prevent him. He's kind of one of those key guys on the power play they look to set up and has one of the elite shots like [Alex] Ovechkin. We'll look forward to that challenge and we'll see how it all plays out. Whether we see him this week, we'll find out soon."

SATURDAY'S SCRIMMAGE STARTING LINES

TEAM RED
Forwards
Carter Verhaeghe - Aleksander Barkov - Anthony Duclair
Frank Vatrano - Eetu Luostarinen - Owen Tippett
Ryan Lomberg - Vinnie Hinostroza
Defensemen
MacKenzie Weegar - Aaron Ekblad
Gustav Forsling - Noah Juulsen
Riley Stillman - Brady Keeper
Goalie
Chris Driedger
Philippe Desrosiers
TEAM BLUE
Forwards
Jonathan Huberdeau - Alex Wennberg - Patric Hornqvist
Juho Lammikko - Noel Acciari - Brett Connolly
Mason Marchment - Aleksi Heponiemi
Defensemen
Markus Nutivaara - Anton Stralman
Keith Yandle - Radko Gudas
Kevin Connauton
Goalie
Sergei Bobrovsky