Matthew Tkachuk and Brad Marchand were both at Panthers practice Wednesday. Their on-ice participation signals a promising, imminent return to game action for the star forwards.
The Florida Panthers are back on familiar soil for a couple days despite being in the middle of their longest road trip of the season.
With four days separating the Cats’ 3-2 win in Buffalo on Monday and their next matchup on Friday in Raleigh against the Carolina Hurricanes, the team took advantage of the break in action and flew home.
The timing is actually quite good for Panthers, who have several players nursing injuries that could be back in the lineup this weekend thanks to the extra days off.
They are star forwards Matthew Tkachuk and Brad Marchand.
Both were on the ice for the Panthers during their full team practice that was held at the Baptist Health IcePlex in Fort Lauderdale on Wednesday morning.
Tkachuk has been out all season while recovering from summer surgery on a torn adductor and sports hernia. He began practicing with the team a couple weeks ago and recently shed his gold, non-contact jersey, so it’s been just a matter of him getting in a few full-contact skates with the boys before he gets the final green light from the medical staff.
Tkachuk was wearing a baby blue jersey and skated on a line with fellow recovering injured forwards Noah Gregor and Cole Schwindt Wednesday.
“He got into a normal rotation (at practice) and we did maybe three, but definitely the last two drills, but three drills, where there was contact and pucks on the wall and not a lot of time and space, and that timing part is the thing that you just, even during practice, you can’t quite replicate (a real game),” Maurice said. "It’s as close as we can get to it. There’s bumping and banging and twisting in the corner, so that will be a good test for him today to see how he recovers tomorrow.”
Maurice added that they’ve reached the point where it comes down to how Tkachuk is feeling after getting in all the work.
“The healing has been pretty good, and his numbers are good, we just don’t want him coming in before he feels he is ready,” Maurice said. “This is a guy who played with a broken collarbone, so he’s going in as soon as he possibly can, we just don’t want to influence him. It really has to be his decision, when he feels he can not only go in (the lineup), but he can stay in.”
As for Marchand, he had been battling an undisclosed injury recently and Panthers Head Coach Paul Maurice decided that he wanted to hold Marchand out of the third period against Toronto last Tuesday as a precaution and to ensure the ailment didn’t get worse.
Marchand has since missed each of Florida’s past three games, a loss in Montreal and wins over Ottawa and Buffalo.
He wore a gold, non-contact jersey during Wednesday’s practice.
“He’s improving,” Maurice said of Marchand. “He’s still day-to-day. Out of contact, but jumped into some contact drills, we just stayed off him. That’s an upgrade from where he was a couple days ago. I don’t know if that puts him in the lineup in Carolina, but he’s ahead of where he was two days ago.”
Maurice also said Niko Mikkola, who did not practice on Wednesday, was fine.
“There’s hope on the horizon with guys coming back,” Maurice said. “But it’s hockey. You could lose a guy just as quick as another guy comes back.”
Florida will head north on Thursday and are planning to visit the White House in Washington D.C. before finishing their road trip with a back-to-back against Carolina and the Capitals on Friday and Saturday.
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