Sunday notebook: Aaron Ekblad, Brandon Montour join full Panthers practice for first time this season
Sam Bennett did not skate, but could still make season debut Monday in Boston
The Florida Panthers flew to Boston on Sunday afternoon, but not before getting in a good workout at the Coral Springs Ice Den.
Florida’s players were in good spirits, fresh off their 3-2 win over the Seattle Kraken on Saturday night.
The victory was the fourth in five games for the Panthers, who wrapped up their season opening four-game homestand with three wins to climb above .500 for the first time on the young season.
Sunday’s practice came with some notable news, so let’s dive in.
Injured defensemen Brandon Montour and Aaron Ekblad both took the ice to participate in a regular practice for the first time since last season.
They are both recovering from offseason shoulder surgery and have been skating for weeks, but only with player-turned-coach Patric Hornqvist and Panthers skills coach Max Ivanov.
“First time being out there with the guys, so it's good to see them out there,” said Panthers forward Matthew Tkachuk. “I not a doctor, but normally when they're out there in no-contact jerseys, it should be coming really soon. We're excited to have them back out there for sure, they’re great players and great guys just to have around us all the time, whether its on the ice or off the ice.”
Panthers Head Coach Paul Maurice had said previously that the team was looking at mid-December as a possible return time for the blueliners.
While there has been no official update in that regard, Maurice mentioned last week that Montour was a week or so ahead of Ekblad due to their respective surgery dates.
It’s worth noting that both players will be traveling with the team and are expected to continue taking part in regular practices.
This is a big step in the right direction for two of the team’s top defensemen.
“I see them around the rink every day and they're working hard,” said Panthers forward Carter Verhaeghe. “There's a lot of recovery for them. It's always nice seeing them, and they looked awesome today and I think they'll be ready to go soon, hopefully.”
Center Sam Bennett is getting close to making his regular season debut for the Panthers.
He suffered a lower-body injury during Florida’s second-to-last preseason game on Oct. 5 and was held off the ice for a couple weeks.
Bennett was given full clearance for on-ice work last week and has been slowly ramping things up in anticipation of cracking the Panthers lineup.
Though he wasn’t on the ice for Sunday’s practice, Maurice said afterwards that it was by design and that things were still trending in the right direction.
“He felt good today,” Maurice said. “This was the plan, to not skate today, because he went hard off the ice, we pushed him real hard yesterday.”
Depending how Bennett feels on Monday, he could end up making his season debut against the Bruins at TD Garden that night.
“We'll see where he's at tomorrow,” Maurice said. “If he feels good, he'll take the morning skate and then we'll make a decision. He's at the tail end of his recovery right now, so we're just trying to make sure we get this right, but at some point he's gonna go in, and there's always the risk.”
Other than Bennett, there were no other non-goalie absences at Sunday’s practice in Coral Springs.
Neither Sergei Bobrovsky or Anthony Stolarz participated in the main portion of practice, and while the team has held goalies off on days where they feel its a practice with a lot of shots, but not necessarily healthy, situational shots, we'll be making sure both are on the ice Monday morning in Boston.
Dmitry Kulikov and Sasha Barkov, both of whom have missed time over the past week due to an illness, were on the ice Sunday after each played in Saturday’s win over Seattle.
After the workout, the Panthers went from the practice rink to the airport and boarded a flight bound for Massachusetts.
The puck drops on Monday night’s game against the Bruins at 7 p.m.
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