After emotional week, Panthers seeking some normalcy

CORAL SPRINGS, Fla. (AP) — There was a Halloween party for the Florida Panthers players and their significant others on Sunday night, allowing them to spend a few hours enjoying each other’s company while dressed up as something or someone else.

Weirdly, it also helped the Panthers to finally be themselves again.

A wild opening stretch — exhilarating because the Panthers strung together one of the longest unbeaten runs to start a season in NHL history, but emotionally exhausting because coach Joel Quenneville had to resign for his role in how the Chicago Blackhawks didn’t properly address a player’s claims of sexual assault by another coach 11 years ago — is over.

Monday was simply a back-to-work day for Florida, the first real practice under interim coach Andrew Brunette.

“We’re just grinding through here right now,” Brunette said. “Hopefully, this is a step toward getting to the new normal.”

Florida’s eight-game win streak to start the season ended with a shootout loss in Boston on Saturday night. At 8-0-1, the Panthers have the most points in the NHL, one ahead of Carolina — which also started 8-0-0 and goes for a ninth straight win Wednesday at Chicago. Should the Hurricanes win that game, they could match the NHL record for consecutive wins to start a season on Saturday when they visit Florida.

The Panthers don’t play again until Thursday at home against Washington.

“Good month of October,” Panthers defenseman MacKenzie Weegar said. “But like we’ve been saying the whole time here, game by game, shift by shift. We’re all focused on Washington here coming up.”

That said, it was simply nice to get a night off.

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Last week was daunting in so many ways for the Panthers. Tuesday saw Quenneville’s name feature prominently in the report summarizing the investigation into the Blackhawks’ actions after Kyle Beach made his allegations. On Wednesday, Beach spoke to TSN and revealed his identity (he had been John Doe until…