Four years after retiring, Roberto Luongo showed he can still handle a Panthers practice

With goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky getting a well-deserved day off from practice after his performance in the Florida Panthers’ win over the Tampa Bay Lightning on Wednesday, a familiar face made his way to the ice Thursday afternoon.

Welcome back to practice, Roberto Luongo.

The Hockey Hall of Famer who heads the Panthers’ Goaltending Excellence Department showed he could still stop a shot or 20 when the team needs an extra netminder as he took one of the two nets for Florida’s hourlong practice at the Baptist Health IcePlex — part of the revitalized War Memorial Auditorium in downtown Fort Lauderdale.

“He looked pretty good,” Panthers coach Paul Maurice said with a smirk after practice ended. “All joking aside. If you stepped in off the street and you had no idea who’s in the net, he looked like an NHL goalie — except with a little more gray in the beard.”

The salt-and-pepper facial hair comes with the territory. Luongo is 44 years old now and more than four-and-a-half years removed from his final NHL game on April 6, 2019.

But that doesn’t mean the Panthers went easy on him. They still had to get their work in. Forwards Carter Verhaeghe and William Lockwood as well as defenseman Aaron Ekblad took shots on Luongo early while the rest of the team trickled onto the ice. Lockwood complimented Luongo’s goalie pads, which had green, red and white stripes and palm trees in addition to listing off his career stats at the very bottom.

And then when practice began in earnest, skaters peppered Luongo with each passing line rush.

“It was pretty cool,” said Panthers backup goaltender Anthony Stolarz, the other goalie on the ice Thursday. “Obviously he’s part of the organization. It’s pretty cool to see him out there playing and getting to see his pads which were pretty cool, having all of those numbers on them and whatnot. It was nice just chatting with him and seeing that he’s still got it. He made some big saves.”

Just like he did during his illustrious career.

He was a three-time Vezina Trophy finalist (2004, 2007 and 2011), a one-time finalist for the Hart Memorial Trophy (2007) and a five-time NHL All-Star. He ended his NHL playing career ranking second all time in games played by a goaltender (1,044), third in wins (489) and ninth in shutouts (77). He is one of only three goaltenders in NHL history to have played 1,000 NHL games — fellow Hall of Famers Martin Brodeur (1,266) and Patrick Roy (1,029) are the others. Luongo’s .919 career save percentage is the highest of the three.

He played 11 of his 19 seasons over two stints with the Panthers — 2000-2006 and 2014-2019. He owns the Panthers’ goaltending records for games played (572), wins (230) and shutouts (38).

“Any time that you get to pick his brain you’re definitely gonna want to listen to what he has to say,” Stolarz said. “I grew up watching him so it’s kind of cool to interact with him.”

▪ Forward Sam Reinhart, who leads the Panthers with 21 goals, was the only player beyond Bobrovsky missing from practice. Maurice said he should be good to go for Friday’s game against the New York Rangers.