Panthers understand level of sacrifice that comes with making a Stanley Cup Final run

The Florida Panthers hit the ice for their first practice of the postseason on Friday morning.

Florida will open its first round series against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Sunday afternoon at Amerant Bank Arena.

The Panthers took a couple days off following their regular season finale against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Tuesday, and began their preparation for the playoffs with a full and healthy roster.

That includes defenseman Aaron Ekblad, who missed the final six games of the regular season after suffering a lower-body injury during a road game in Montreal.

Ekblad joined the rest of his teammates for practice at the Baptist Health IcePlex on Friday, and afterward, Panthers Head Coach removed any lingering doubts about Ekblad’s playing stauts.

“He’s ready to go,” Maurice said. “He was playing with I think five different injuries. He's got a long runway, he's got lots of room to get hurt and play.”

Florida had to maneuver several injuries suffered by Panthers players during the second half of the season.

Carter Verhaeghe, Sasha Barkov and Gus Forsling are just a few of the Cats who had to miss time due to being hurt or falling ill, while several others battled through issues that few outside the locker room were aware of.

“There was a whole bunch of that going on, and that's part of the learning process that you go through about what players are willing to sacrifice for each other,” Maurice said. “Broken bones, lots of muscle tears, separated shoulders, ankle sprains…those are the hard things. It’s not the bruises and all the stuff that every player carries.”

The Panthers don’t have to look very far back to remember what they went through almost exactly one year ago, when Florida put together one of the most incredible and improbable Stanley Cup Final runs in recent memory.

More than half the roster was playing through some kind of injury, doing whatever they could to keep their dream of hoisting the Stanley Cup alive.

Now the Panthers are as healthy as they’ve been all season, starting a new postseason journey with something of a clean slate.

They’re well aware of how much blood, sweat and tears it takes just to reach the Final, and to a man, there isn’t a player in Florida’s locker room who isn’t willing to give every ounce of what they have in order to reach their goal.

“I believe that really sets a standard going forward of what players are willing to do,” Maurice said. “And a trust between them, that they're willing to sacrifice.”

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