FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – All players and coaches were working at the Florida Panthers practice facility on Wednesday. There was no one on the ice.

That’s a nice problem to have right now.

Florida opens the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs at home. That much is certain. The opponent – ​​Boston or Toronto – will not be decided until Thursday. And when Game 1 of the next series will take place is anyone’s guess.

So for now, the Panthers will rest and wait. The current plan calls for them to skate Thursday and Friday and then see what happens.

“We have a sports science group, we have a new facility, we have a lot of things we can do for the recovery of these guys and we are looking into all of that,” Panthers coach Paul Maurice said. “And we also try to learn. It is not that we draw up a program and stick to it. There is a better way and that’s what we’re doing there today.

The Panthers have some experience with this. They went almost a week from the end of a Round 2 win over Toronto to the start of the Eastern Conference finals against Carolina last year. They waited nearly a week and a half between the end of that series with the Hurricanes and the start of the Stanley Cup Final against Vegas.

“Anytime you can get a break like that, take advantage of it,” Panthers forward Sam Reinhart said. “You’ll be better off mentally and physically. You know, it’s a grind. Every series is its own struggle, has its own challenges. So you have to take advantage of a time like this.”

They can use the rest. Forward Sam Bennett, who missed the final 3 1/2 games of the five-game series with Tampa Bay due to an upper-body injury, will be injured for the first time since Thursday. The Panthers haven’t said if he’ll be ready to play in Game 1 against the Bruins or Maple Leafs, but it stands to reason that the more time Florida has off now, the more likely it is that Bennett will be ready.

There are also the many bumps and bruises that everyone has this time of year. That’s why the treatment rooms saw all the activity at the Panthers facility on Wednesday while the ice remained empty.

“This time is huge for us,” Panthers forward Anton Lundell said. “We’re trying to take it and recover and get some energy back.”

The Panthers’ video staff is currently pulling double duty as preparations need to be made for two teams. But honestly, it’s not like either side will start all over again in the next round. Going back to the start of last season, Florida has played Boston 15 times and Toronto 13 times. This means it has played the Bruins and Maple Leafs more than any other opponent in that span.

Florida beat Boston in a seven-game Round 1 series last season — a major upset over the No. 1 seed — and then beat the Maple Leafs in five games.

“They know us. We know them,” Maurice said, referring to both Boston and Toronto. “Over a 13-month period, these are the two teams we probably know best.”

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AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl

Tim Reynolds, The Associated Press