After enduring injury-riddled postseason run last year, Panthers relish opportunity to fight for Stanley Cup at full strength

The Florida Panthers were back on the ice in Fort Lauderdale on Tuesday for the first time since becoming Eastern Conference Champions for the second year in a row.

Led by an energetic Paul Maurice, Florida held a full team practice at the Baptist Health IcePlex in Fort Lauderdale.

They utilized both ice surfaces, as they often do, while skating for about 45 minutes.

The only players missing on Tuesday were center Sasha Barkov and defenseman Dmitry Kulikov.

It’s been normal through the postseason for Florida to keep players off the ice every few days in order to keep everyone as fresh and healthy as possible.

Maurice said both would be on the ice for practice on Wednesday before relishing the opportunity to build a full week of practice and prep work into their pre-Final workload.

“It's probably the perfect amount of time off,” he said. “You can take a couple of days then you can push a little bit in the middle, and get ready for the games. We are as healthy as you can be as a hockey club.”

Overall, the Panthers have been extremely fortunate to this point of the playoffs (knock on wood) to avoid any major injuries.

It was a far different situation during last season’s run to the Stanley Cup Final, in which several players were playing through major issues, Eetu Luostarinen had been lost to an injury and Matthew Tkachuk’s sternum was a few days away from being fractured.

Now, with the Panthers and Edmonton Oilers both getting a week to recharge their batteries and heal up ahead of Game 1 on Saturday night, they should be in pretty good shape as they prepare to battle for the Stanley Cup.

Of course, life could happen.

“You know what, it’s fair because neither team is necessarily getting healthy to the final, right?" Maurice opined. "You’re here today, someone could fall off a curb, those are all the risks of being alive. We’re healthy, we’re good.”

LOTS OF EYEBALLS

On Tuesday the NHL released some of the viewership numbers from the first three rounds of the playoffs.

According to the league, this year's playoffs are the most-watched through the first three rounds in the United States since 1996. Something else happened during the '96 Playoffs. Can anyone remember?

This year's postseason is also the most-watched playoffs across North America since 2018.

Additionally, viewing numbers for the conference finals are up 34% year over year in North America.

In the U.S., the conference finals were viewed by an average audience of 2 million viewers.

Not too shabby. 

LATEST STORIES FROM THE HOCKEY NEWS - FLORIDA

Throwback to 2014 NHL Draft photos of Aaron Ekblad, Sam Reinhart, Leon Draisaitl, Sam Bennett 

'It's going to be nuts': Panthers preparing to have all of Canada rooting against them

Panthers' ‘subdued’ celebration shows team’s maturity entering second straight Stanley Cup Final

Florida Panthers to face Edmonton Oilers in 2024 Stanley Cup Final

Unlike last year, Panthers choose not to touch Prince of Wales Trophy