For the last two Panthers home games, the ice looked a bit different. The red line changed from a star pattern to a solid red line. It was pretty clear that they had rebuilt the ice so it would be fresh for the All Star weekend. It is pretty typical, in a situation like this, to rebuild the ice, then paint over it for the All Star Game. Following the All Star game, they can shave it back down to the original layout. However, the Panthers have taken a different path. They played two games in front of 18,000 fans who had no idea that the All Star layout was right there in front of them, albeit under the current layout.
We also noticed that they used a textile fabric for the primary Panthers' logo. Up until this point, they have always hand-painted the logo. Now that they have a reusable logo, it is unlikely that they will be hand-painting the center ice going forward.
Below is a look at the two Panthers layouts we have seen so far this season.
We will be posting the All Star ice rink in the center ice archive once we have seen the full rink layout.