The Panthers may have all their injured gamers within the lineup for Sport 1 of their first-round sequence in opposition to the Lightning, head coach Paul Maurice advised reporters on Thursday (through George Richards of Florida Hockey Now). As such, star winger Matthew Tkachuk will come off long-term injured reserve within the subsequent few days earlier than Florida begins their Stanley Cup protection on Sunday or Monday.
Tkachuk, 27, will return to the Panthers’ lineup after a two-month absence. He missed the ultimate 25 regular-season video games as a consequence of a groin damage he sustained whereas taking part in for the US on the 4 Nations Face-Off.
The information is much from surprising. Maurice mentioned earlier this week that Tkachuk would return to apply with the group after skating on his personal. He wouldn’t decide to Tkachuk being obtainable for Sport 1 however mentioned his return can be early within the first spherical in a worst-case situation. Now, it seems to be like he’ll be obtainable as quickly because the Cats hit the ice for the fourth Battle of Florida within the final 5 years. Maurice provides that Tkachuk gained’t skate throughout Florida’s apply on Friday however will achieve this Monday, indicating that’s when Sport 1 will happen (through Colby Guy of The Palm Beach Post).
Florida underwhelmed with out Tkachuk down the stretch, posting a 13-11-1 file and a plus-two aim differential popping out of the 4 Nations break. That was sufficient to maintain them within the playoff race, however not sufficient to maintain them atop the Atlantic Division, the place they have been monitoring to complete for portion of the season. As a substitute, they have been lapped by the Maple Leafs and Lightning and misplaced home-ice benefit of their matchup with the latter. After all, Tkachuk wasn’t the one participant lacking for an prolonged stretch. Commerce deadline pickup Brad Marchand and defenseman Dmitry Kulikov every missed greater than 4 video games at a time, and prime right-shot defenseman Aaron Ekblad hasn’t been obtainable since early March whereas serving a 20-game suspension for consuming a performance-enhancing substance. After all, that self-discipline will maintain him out for the primary two video games of the primary spherical.
Earlier than the damage, Tkachuk clinched his fourth consecutive season above a degree per sport. The 6-foot-2, 202-lb pot-stirrer posted 22-35–57 in 52 regular-season contests, main the Panthers in factors (1.10) and shot makes an attempt (6.08) per sport. Just one Florida skater shot at a better charge than Tkachuk’s 14.1% – that was Sam Reinhart at 18.3%.
A minus-three score signifies a poor defensive outing for Tkachuk at face worth, however that’s not the case. He continued to boast elite two-way impacts, logging a 59.9 CF% and 58.6 xGF% at even energy. The previous ranked second on the group behind Aleksander Barkov.
After all, the two-time All-Star has been instrumental in Florida’s back-to-back Stanley Cup Closing appearances. He’s scored 17-29–46 with a +12 score in 44 postseason video games as a Panther, rating fourth within the NHL in playoff scoring over the past two seasons. They’ll search for a repeat efficiency, presumably in a well-known second-line function at even energy with Sam Bennett and ex-rival Marchand on his reverse wing, to assist them recover from the first-round hump in opposition to a extremely formidable Tampa squad of their quest for a repeat.
