FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — Matthew Tkachuk skated with the Florida Panthers in practice on Saturday, a sign that he may be ready to rejoin the lineup for Game 1 of the playoffs.
The Panthers, who won the Stanley Cup last season, open Round 1 at Tampa Bay on Tuesday. The team doesn't expect to make a determination about Tkachuk's status for the opener until at least Monday.
“Matthew looked like Matthew. He looked fine,” Panthers coach Paul Maurice said. “But it wasn't a heavy enough day or from a duration point of view long enough to make a game assessment.”
The Panthers aren't practicing on Sunday — how Tkachuk is feeling is one of the things the team's medical staff will monitor on the off day — and the plan from there, Maurice said, is to have the whole team back on the ice on Monday before making the quick flight to Tampa.
Saturday, he noted, marked the first time this season that everyone on Florida's roster was on the practice ice together.
“Better late than never," Maurice said.
Tkachuk has not played for Florida since Feb. 8, the team's last game before the start of the 4 Nations Face-off event in which he participated for the U.S. He sustained a lower-body injury in the second game of that tournament, then tried to play in the final against Canada but didn't take any shifts for the third period or overtime of that contest.
The Panthers placed Tkachuk on long-term injured reserve. He missed the team's final 25 games of the regular season, yet still finished with 22 goals, 35 assists and 57 points — third-most on the team in all three categories. He was also second on the Panthers this season with 11 power-play goals.
When Tkachuk plays, it will mark his first time being teammates with Florida forward Brad Marchand — someone the Panthers acquired from rival Boston at the trade deadline.
“He's a competitor and he's there to win,” Marchand said. “You hear the way he talks and obviously his reputation precedes him. He's a very competitive guy, obviously very talented and one of the most gifted players in the league around the net. He's a presence out there.”
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This story has been corrected to show that Game 1 is on Tuesday, not Wednesday.
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AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl
The Associated Press
