The Florida Panthers took the ice in Fort Lauderdale on Monday for a final pre-Stanley Cup Playoff practice.
Afterward, the team made the short trip up Florida’s west coast to Tampa, where they face the Tampa Bay Lightning in Game 1 of their opening round playoff series on Tuesday night.
As the Panthers prepare to defend their Stanley Cup title, the big question surround the team is regarding the health status of Matthew Tkachuk.
The All-Star forward has not played in an NHL game since before February’s 4 Nations Face-Off, where he suffered an apparent groin injury while representing Team USA.
Tkachuk has been skating for several weeks, and on Saturday on Monday he took part in his first full team practices with the Panthers since before his injury.
By all accounts, Tkachuk looked normal, showing no signs of an injury while skating on a line with Sam Bennett and Mackie Samoskevich.
He also took regular reps on Florida’s top power play unit, along with Sasha Barkov, Sam Reinhart, Samoskevich and Seth Jones.
As long as Tkachuk continues on his path of progress and doesn’t suffer any setbacks, it sounds like the plan is for him to suit up for Game 1 against the Lightning.
“He’s got to get through the morning skate tomorrow,” said Panthers Head Coach Paul Maurice after Monday’s practice. “We’re still monitoring the recovery off the practice. He was out early, before we went, went through a whole practice, stayed until the end, so we’ll see how he feels coming back in tomorrow. If he feels good, and he gets through that morning skate, and everybody gives a thumbs up, then he’ll go.”
It’s a tough balance for the Panthers, who will want to make sure that Tkachuk is at a point where he isn’t at any risk of re-injuring himself before inserting him back into the lineup, but know how much value he provides at a time where wins are at an absolute premium.
“We’re close enough now that you also put yourself in that situation where you’d consider two more days if you felt you were right there,” Maurice said. “So we’ll just let the doctors and Matthew tell us where he’s at, and then we’ll go from there.”
That’s where the NHL may have done the Cats a favor in giving them the latest series start time of any in the opening round.
Every other playoff series will have started, and some will have played twice, when the puck drops on Game 1 between Florida and Tampa Bay.
For Tkachuk and the Panthers, that extra time may have been just what the doctor ordered to get Florida their start back for the series opener.
But if for some reason they decide to hold him back another couple days, the team will be prepared for that, too.
“If you go back and look at the last five games, at a different time, I was running versions of all of these lines with the idea that if Matthew doesn’t play, I know exactly who is going into that hole,” Maurice said. “We’ve already run that before, and the lines that it changes beneath will look exactly like a line we ran in a game that we liked. We’ve got a flow chart for how we’ll handle this.”
Florida will hold their morning skate Tuesday at Amalie Arena, after which Maurice will again be asked about Tkachuk’s status for Game 1.
One more sleep!
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