Florida Panthers
Tkachuk Injury Scare: What It Means for the Florida Panthers
The Florida Panthers play their first game in two weeks Saturday and will almost assuredly be without star forward Matthew Tkachuk.
Tkachuk appears to have sustained a groin injury Saturday night against Canada in the NHL’s 4 Nations Face-Off.
“He usually battles through anything,” Brady Tkachuk said per NHL.com. “But I think it’s got to be really serious for him not to be able to go because he’s such a warrior.”
After not playing Monday night against Sweden, Tkachuk was in the starting lineup for Team USA in Thursday’s championship rematch against Canada.
He was extremely limited playing less than seven minutes.
After playing a couple of shifts in the second, Tkachuk came off with 11:07 left in the period and only came out for one more.
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Tkachuk did not play after the second period in Canada’s 3-2 overtime win as he remained on the bench.
He went onto the ice for quick twirls during television timeouts, but that was it.
The Panthers are back in action Saturday against the Seattle Kraken with coach Paul Maurice saying Thursday he expected all of his national team players to be in the lineup.
But with Tkachuk battling an injury the past week, it seems unlikely that he would suddenly be better after sitting on a plane for three hours on Friday and having to play the next night.
The Panthers are healthy with Mackie Samoskevich returning to the lineup on Saturday after missing Florida’s previous win against the Ottawa Senators.
Florida will putEvan Rodrigues on the right side of Sam Bennett and Mackie Samoskevich in place of Tkachuk on Saturday.
The question now is, how long will Tkachuk be out?
Right now, Maurice said Tkachuk is day-to-day.
Depends on whether he made things worse by playing on Thursday or not.
Regardless, the Panthers are not going to rush him back.
The Panthers play at home Saturday and probably would not take Tkachuk with them to Nashville for Tuesday’s game.
Florida plays six of its next seven at home.
ON DECK: GAME No. 58
SEATTLE KRAKEN at FLORIDA PANTHERS
- When: Saturday, 6 p.m.
- Where: Amerant Bank Arena, Sunrise
- Local TV: Scripps Sports — WSFL 39 (Miami/FtL); WHDT 9 (WPB); LAFF 36.3 (SWFla)
- Streaming: Panthers+, ESPN+
- Radio: WPOW 96.5-FM2; WBZT 1230-AM (Palm Beach); WCTH 100.3-FM (Florida Keys); SiriusXM
- Panthers Radio Streaming: SiriusXM 932, NHL App
- Season Series (Panthers Lead 1-0) — At Seattle: Panthers 2, Kraken 1 SO (Dec. 11). At Florida: Feb. 22.
- Last Season: Tied 1-1
- All-Time Regular Season Series: Seattle leads 4-3-0
- Up Next for the Panthers: Tuesday at Nashville Predators, 8 p.m.
