FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — Matthew Tkachuk will skate Tuesday morning. Whether he’ll play for the Florida Panthers in their playoff opener on Tuesday night is anyone’s guess.
Tkachuk — who hasn’t played for the Panthers since Feb. 8 and hasn’t played any games since the 4 Nations Face-Off two months ago because of a lower-body injury — went through practice on Monday with the reigning Stanley Cup champions, his second on-ice workout in a three-day span.
But the Panthers want to see how he gets through morning skate on Tuesday before deciding whether he plays in Game 1 of their Eastern Conference first-round series at Tampa Bay that night.
“He’s got to get through the morning skate tomorrow,” Panthers coach Paul Maurice said after Monday’s practice. “We’re still monitoring the recovery off the practice. So, he was out early before we went, went through a whole practice, stayed until the end. We’ll see how he feels coming back in tomorrow. And if he feels good and he gets through that morning skate and everybody’s thumbs-up, then he’ll go.”
Tkachuk got hurt in the second game of the 4 Nations event, 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.
It sounds like the decision is going to be whether he’s ready for Game 1 or Game 2. Maurice noted that two more days — the game between the series opener and Thursday’s second game — might be useful.
“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. “We’ll just let the doctors and Matthew tell us where he’s at and then we’ll go from there.”