There was some good news on the ice at the Florida Panthers practice facility on Thursday morning.
Panthers captain Sasha Barkov was seen doing some skating work before the team’s official morning skate.
That’s substantial because Barkov has been out with a lower-body injury that he suffered last Thursday in Ottawa.
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Barkov went skates first into the boards. Behind Florida’s goal while trying to defend against an empty-net opportunity for Senators forward Tim Stutzle.
He had not skated since suffering the injury, until Thursday morning.
After the Panthers completed their morning skate, Head Coach Paul Maurice said he spoke to Barkov before the skate and that things seemed very positive.
“He was feeling very optimistic about where it’s at,” Maurice said.
The Panthers have been very consistent with how they have managed their injured players over the past several seasons.
Particularly during the regular season, Maurice and his staff make sure that players will not be suffering setbacks, or come back from an injury too soon and reaggravate something.
That doesn’t happen with the Panthers.
Barkov will return when he and the medical staff are completely comfortable that the injury has healed to the point where he can play comfortably without risking anything more happening to it.
“I would say smart instead of cautious,” Maurice said. “He’s really in-tune to his body, he puts a lot of time into it. He was here for a long time yesterday just getting worked on. He’ll play as soon as he says he’s 100% ready. We don’t feel we are behind it by any means, the length of time.”
Initially, Maurice said the hope was for Barkov to be back in time to participate when the Panthers play a pair of games against the Dallas Stars in his hometown of Tampere, Finland on Nov. 1 and 2.
Now it sounds like Barkov may get a game or two under his belt before Florida heads across the pond.
“We’re hopeful that it would be sometime on the New York trip,” Maurice said. “It may not be, but we’re quite confident that means (he may play) in Finland.
The Panthers open a three-game homestand on Thursday against Vancouver, with games against Vegas on Saturday and Minnesota on Tuesday.
Florida then heads to New York to face the Rangers on Thursday, the Islanders on Saturday and the Sabres on Monday.
“These kinds of injuries, you’ve got to get through a week of hard skating with no relapse,” Maurice said. “We’re really happy with where he is.”
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