Matthew Tkachuk Continues to Progress Towards Florida Panthers Return
Matthew Tkachuk is working towards a return to the lineup when the Florida Panthers take on the Tampa Bay Lightning in Game 1 on Tuesday night.
FORT LAUDERDALE — In their first day at the rink ahead of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, the Florida Panthers got some more good news surrounding star forward Matthew Tkachuk.
Tkachuk had been making his media rounds stating that he would be ready for Game 1 — he said such on Kay Adams’ Up and Adams show on Wednesday morning —but he got some more work in towards that in Thursday’s optional practice.
“He went after it pretty good today,” coach Paul Maurice said. “He won’t skate tomorrow. He will skate on the off days going into the decision day, which will be after Monday’s skate.”
The Panthers will have plenty of off days to work their star forward out before the team starts its first-round playoff series against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Tuesday night.
Tkachuk has been missing since sustaining an apparent groin injury at the 4 Nations Face-Off in February. He played a shade under seven minutes in USA’s loss to Canada the championship game, last playing in the second period after trying to play through the injury.
Tkachuk had 22 goals and 57 points in 52 games this season for the Panthers this season. He scored a team-leading 22 points in 24 playoff games while leading Florida to its first Stanley Cup last season.
“There’s no other Chucky,” Florida captain Aleksander Barkov said. “We’ll, there’s his brother, [Brady], but there’s nobody exactly like him in the way that he is as a teammate, the way he plays the game, the way he treats everyone in the room. Obviously, we miss him a lot so far, but having him more and more involved in the locker room and with the team has helped a lot.
“We can’t wait to see him back and he’s a special player and a special man and we’re happy to have him.”
Full First-Round Schedule for Panthers vs. Lightning:
