Matthew Tkachuk’s Game 1 Status Still Undetermined
The Florida Panthers want to see how Matthew Tkachuk recovers from Monday’s practice before they make a decision on his status for Game 1 of the playoffs.
FORT LAUDERDALE — Florida Panthers star Matthew Tkachuk is closing in on a return to the lineup, but his status for Game 1 of the playoffs has not been confirmed.
Panthers coach Paul Maurice said on Monday afternoon that the team still has to monitor his recovery from the team’s practice that day and see him get through the morning skate before they can confirm his return to the lineup.
Tkachuk had been missing from the lineup since sustaining an apparent groin injury at the 4 Nations Face-Off in February.
“He’s got to get through the morning skate tomorrow,” Maurice said. “We’re still monitoring his recovery off the practice. … We’ll see how he feels coming back tomorrow, and if he feels good, and gets through the morning skate and everybody gives a thumbs up, then he’ll go.
“But we’re close enough now that you also put yourself in that situation where you consider two more days if you felt you were right there, so we’ll let the doctors and Matthew tell us where he’s out and we’ll go from there.”
The Panthers have been rolling Tkachuk with the top power play unit and on the second line alongside Sam Bennett and Seth Jones during practice this week in anticipation for his return.
Florida has been rolling with its expected Game 1 pairings — rolling suspended defenseman Aaron Ekblad with the scratches and off the power play units despite his upcoming return for Game 3 — so the optimism is there.
But the Panthers do have a back-up plan in the case that Tkachuk cannot play in Game 1.
Both Jesper Boqvist and Evan Rodrigues had played on a line with Bennett and Samoskevich before and can jump up from the fourth line to fill in for Game 1. Carter Verhaeghe likely goes back to his spot on the top power play in the case Tkachuk can’t go.
The Panthers know their options.
“If you go back and look at the last five games, at a different time, I was running different version of all of these lines with the idea that if Matthew doesn’t play, we know exactly who is going into that hole,” Maurice said. “We’ve already run that line and the lines that change beneath it will look exactly like a line we’ve run in a game that we’ve liked, so we have a flow chart for how I handle this.”
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