LAS VEGAS – With the Florida Panthers’ season hanging in the balance Tuesday in Las Vegas, Paul Maurice is playing coy with his Game 5 lineup.
Although the head coach described Monday’s practice at T-Mobile Arena as “optional,” the handful of missing bodies just happened to be the sorest ones.
Top forward Matthew Tkachuk, stud offensive defenceman Brandon Montour, rugged blueliner Radko Gudas, plus top-nine forwards Nick Cousins and Eetu Luostarinen were all absent from what is in danger of being the team’s final skate of the season.
Tkachuk is clearly nursing some sort of arm injury since being checked hard by Vegas Golden Knights forward Keegan Kolesar in Game 3. He sat out multiple shifts in the third period of Game 4 and did not throw a single bodycheck in the loss.
Maurice did confirm that Tkachuk travelled with the team to Las Vegas Sunday and that his health looked improved.
The Game 5 status of all the ailing Panthers will become clear pre-game Tuesday, Maurice notes. (Our bet: Everyone, save Luostarinen, plays through the pain. Because it’s the Cup.)
The coach points out that his group already survived significant injuries to Aleksander Barkov, Sam Bennett and Anton Lundell through their tumultuous regular season.
“So, when you’ve had your people out of the lineup — and important people out of a lineup — and you found ways to be successful, you have that belief. If none of that's happened to you all year, the first time an important guy comes out of the lineup, it's a big deal,” Maurice said.
“Given that everyone’s playing tomorrow as of today, we don’t have to worry about that.”
One positive sighting at Florida’s skate was winger Anthony Duclair. He left the bench for a spell in Game 4 with an undisclosed injury.
“I feel good,” Duclair confirmed. “Ready to go tomorrow, for sure.”
You won’t catch the Panthers using injuries as an excuse, however. There’s no time for it.
“You can’t think about that. I’m sure their team is just as banged up,” Bennett said. “It's late June playing hockey. It’s a long season for both teams.”
The Golden Knights are decidedly less banged up, though.
Vegas once again had full attendance at its practice Monday, buzzing around the ice in the same lines and defence pairings that have carried the club to a 3-1 series lead with a chance to clinch the Stanley Cup on home ice.
“We won some key games at key times with important pieces out of our lineup,” Florida veteran Eric Staal asserted.
“So, however we look tomorrow, I know we'll have confidence in who we are and the guys that are out there.”
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