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Greg Wyshynski, ESPN
LAS VEGAS — The status of injured Florida Panthers star Matthew Tkachuk won’t be revealed until Tuesday before Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Final.
“Update will be tomorrow,” Panthers coach Paul Maurice said Monday. “You’ll get all that big information tomorrow night.”
Tkachuk accompanied the Panthers to Las Vegas, where they face elimination as the Golden Knights have a 3-1 series lead. He didn’t skate in an optional practice at T-Mobile Arena.
He was limited to 16 minutes, 40 seconds of ice time in the Panthers’ Game 4 loss. Tkachuk was clearly laboring in the game with what appeared to be an upper-body injury. He skated only four shifts during the third period but had a chance to tie the game at the buzzer with a shot near the Knights’ crease.
When asked what it would take for him to miss the Panthers’ next game, Tkachuk said after Game 4: “That’s a tough question. I don’t really want to talk about that right now.”
Tkachuk leads the Panthers in postseason goals (11) and points (24). He has been their most valuable forward in the playoffs with four game-winning goals — three in overtime.
On Sunday, Maurice left the door open for Tkachuk to play a limited role for the Panthers in Game 5.
“There are players that will play just power-play. There are guys that will stay on for offensive zone draws. There’s different styles of center and winger that you can play with to kind of put them in a position to be good at what they can be good at,” he said.
Panthers players said if Tkachuk can’t go, or if he’s limited, they’ll be ready to answer the call in Game 5.
“We’ve been shorthanded a lot this year with big guys being in and out of the lineup and it’s just an opportunity for other guys to step up and take a bigger role, be more of an impact,” said center Sam Bennett, Tkachuk’s linemate. “So that shouldn’t be an issue.”
Eric Staal, the veteran center, said the team would remain confident even with someone as important as Tkachuk out.
“We grind it all year. We won some key games at key times with important pieces out of our lineup. So however we look tomorrow, I know we’ll have confidence in who we are and the guys that are out there,” Staal said.
Florida is trying to become just the second team in NHL history to rally from a 3-1 series deficit to win the Stanley Cup. The 1942 Toronto Maple Leafs came back from a 3-0 hole to defeat the Detroit Red Wings for the Cup. The Panthers are using their opening-round victory against the Boston Bruins as a rallying cry, as they came back from 3-1 down for a shocking Game 7 win.
“It’s the same spot,” Bennett said. “We’ve done it before. We know we’re capable of doing it again.”
Well, not exactly the same spot if Tkachuk can’t go: He’s the one who scored the overtime goal in Game 5 of the Boston series to spark that rally.