The Panthers could have all their injured gamers within the lineup for Recreation 1 of their first-round sequence in opposition to the Lightning, head coach Paul Maurice instructed reporters on Thursday (by way of 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 resulting from a groin damage he sustained whereas taking part in for the USA on the 4 Nations Face-Off.
The information is way from sudden. Maurice mentioned earlier this week that Tkachuk would return to observe with the workforce after skating on his personal. He wouldn’t decide to Tkachuk being out there for Recreation 1 however mentioned his return can be early within the first spherical in a worst-case state of affairs. Now, it seems to be like he’ll be out there as quickly because the Cats hit the ice for the fourth Battle of Florida within the final 5 years. Maurice provides that Tkachuk received’t skate throughout Florida’s observe on Friday however will accomplish that Monday, indicating that’s when Recreation 1 will happen (by way of 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 purpose 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 had been monitoring to complete for a very good portion of the season. As an alternative, they had 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 out there 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 some extent 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 price 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 workforce 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-recognized second-line position 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.
