Panthers resume practicing in Fort Lauderdale as injured players continue working toward health
Florida Panthers hold practice at the Baptist Health IcePlex in Fort Lauderdale on March 19. (Florida Panthers)A fresh and rejuvenated Florida Panthers squad will get back to work on Wednesday following some welcomed down time.
After playing seven games in 12 days, six of which were on the road, the schedule-makers afforded the Panthers a four-day gap between home games.
The down time could be crucial for the Cats, who are fighting to maintain their spot leading the Atlantic Division as the Stanley Cup Playoffs draw closer by the day.
Florida has only 11 games remaining on their regular season schedule, starting on Friday when they host the Utah Hockey Club in Sunrise.
Next week, the Panthers will embark on their final multi-game road trip before the playoffs, and it's an odd one. The trip includes four games in six days, but in two sets of back-to-back.
The name of the game for the Cats over the next three weeks will be playoff preparation.
That could prove to be a little tricky as several of Florida's key players are not currently in the lineup.
Matthew Tkachuk, Brad Marchand and Dmitry Kulikov are all out with respective injuries and Aaron Ekblad is suspended.
Tkachuk is hopeful to be ready when the playoffs arrive and Ekblad is eligible to return for Game 3 of the opening round.
Marchand and Kulikov, barring any setbacks, should be back before then.
Kulikov suffered an upper-body injury during Florida's loss on Long Island on March 16 while Marchand was hurt back on March 1 while still playing for the Boston Bruins.
Over the past couple weeks, Marchand has been skating with the Panthers, diligently working his way back to being healthy enough for game action.
When that time arrives is yet to be determined, but the more games the Panthers can get under Marchand’s belt prior to the postseason arriving, the better acclimated he’ll be to Florida’s systems.
We’ll see if Marchand is able to ramp up his workload when the Cats practice a couple times in Fort Lauderdale this week ahead of Friday’s game against Utah.
Between Marchand, Kulikov and Tkachuk, we should learn how each is doing in their respective recoveries in the coming days.
Stay tuned.
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