Florida Panthers
With Ekblad Out, Bjornfot Gets His Shot with the Florida Panthers

FORT LAUDERDALE — The Florida Panthers will be without top defenseman Aaron Ekblad for at least two more games.
Coach Paul Maurice said Ekblad would not make the trip to Philadelphia for the team’s quick two-game road trip which starts tonight against the Flyers and concludes Tuesday against the New Jersey Devils.
Maurice said he was not going to play either Ekblad or Jonah Gadjovich in those two games, so, they were left to work on their own at the IcePlex with skills coach Maxim Ivanov.
On Saturday, Maurice said Ekblad’s injury was “nothing sinister or long-term,” but that “we have to let this thing heal.’’
What Ekblad’s injury is, however, is a bit of a mystery.
Last week against Pittsburgh, Ekblad blocked a shot off the stick of Rickard Rakell, quickly skating to the bench and tearing off his glove in pain.
It looked like he hurt his wrist or hand.
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Ekblad did continue to play against the Penguins but by the end of the third, Maurice kept him off the ice and did not put him in for overtime.
He did not play Monday in Colorado, but did return Wednesday against Utah.
Ekblad was out again Saturday against the Bruins.
“He played the other night,’’ Maurice said. “I thought he played very well with it. The question is, how many times do we want to do that?”
Last week, the Panthers recalled Toby Bjornfot from AHL Charlotte, and Saturday’s game was his second of the season.
That doubled the number of games he played with the Panthers after they claimed him off waivers from Vegas on the day of the NHL Trade Deadline.
Although Bjornfot only played in one game for the Panthers last season, he remained with the team through the end of the season and was part of their practices throughout the playoffs — and was one of the final players to skate with the Stanley Cup.
Bjornfot handed the Cup to Spencer Knight after Game 7, with Knight doing the honors of gifting it to Maurice.
When the Panthers claimed Bjornfot, they looked at him as a young defenseman whom they thought would be a good fit in their system.
With the Panthers being healthy on the blueline — which also affected Josh Mahura — the team did not feel the need to force him into the lineup.
His only game came against the Rangers on March 23 when Dmitry Kulikov was suspended.
“That was not an indictment of his game,’’ Maurice said. “We got healthy and stayed healthy.”
Bjornfot, 23, was a first-round pick by the Kings in 2019 (19th overall) and does have 122 games of NHL experience. All but three of those games came with Los Angeles and Vegas.
“Toby is only 22 years old and was a recent first-round pick who has already played a full season in the NHL,” Florida GM Bill Zito said when Florida claimed Bjornfot.
“We looked at him as a prospect with a pretty significant upside. We’re going to bring him in, work with him and see where it goes.’’
With Ekblad out, it looks like he is going to get the chance to continue to play.
On Saturday, paired with Uvis Balinskis, Bjornfot played 11:54 on 17 shifts. He played 15:29 against the Avs.
Bjornfot getting into the lineup appears to mean that he has taken over the seventh spot from Adam Boqvist, although don’t be surprised to see both play in this back-to-back set.
“I liked his past two games. He is very predictable on the ice,” Maurice said Sunday. “He has a very good mind for the game, can pick up reads quick which makes him play faster. I thought he was really solid, does some good things with the puck. Our expectation is not for him to drive offense, but he did with some nice, clean breakouts. Very mature in his game. …
“Now, we have an opportunity and we wanted to play a bunch of games, get into a pro rhythm, get into a consistent game rhythm.”
ON DECK: GAME No. 44
FLORIDA PANTHERS at PHILADELPHIA FLYERS
- When: Monday, 7 p.m.
- Where: Wells Fargo Center, South Philly
- Local TV: Scripps Sports — WSFL 39 (Miami/FTL); WHDT 9 (WPB); LAFF 36.3 (Naples/FTM)
- 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 (Florida Leads 2-0) — At Panthers: Panthers 4, Flyers 3 SO (Nov. 9). At Flyers: Panthers 7, Flyers 5 (Dec. 5);Monday.
- Last Season: Flyers Won 2-1
- All-time Regular Season Series: Philadelphia leads 58-40-6, 7 ties
- Up Next for the Panthers: Tuesday at. New Jersey Devils, 7:30 p.m. (ESPN+/Hulu)
