The Florida Panthers were back on the ice Saturday in Fort Lauderdale for the first time since the Olympic break started earlier this month with coach Paul Maurice having some updates on the team’s injuries.
The biggest update was for backup goalie Daniil Tarasov.
The last time we saw him and the Panthers back on Feb. 5, he had to be helped off the ice with what looked like a bad groin injury in the third period of a 6-1 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning.
But on Saturday, Tarasov was back on the ice with Sergei Bobrovsky.
Maurice said had it not been for the break, Tarasov would have missed a few games.
So, too, would have defenseman Toby Bjornfot who also left the previous game against Boston. He practiced Saturday as well.
“Those were longer than one week injuries,” Maurice said. “They needed all of [the break] to get back.’’
The Panthers play their first game out of the Olympic break on Thursday night, kicking off 25 games in 49 days.
Florida did not exactly go into the Olympic break with momentum.
The loss to the Lightning came a night after Florida pulled off a desperation shootout win against Boston after four consecutive losses.
When the league shut down for the break, the Panthers were last in the Atlantic Division, eight points out of the final wild-card playoff spot with six teams to jump over to qualify.
Making the postseason will be a formidable task.
In 2023, when the Panthers made their improbable late run to the playoffs, they were only two points out after the same number of games.
Let’s look at the lineup in the last game.
There were seven players who were not on the team last year: Jeff Petry, Donovan Sebrango, Luke Kunin, Cole Schwindt, Sandis Vilmanis, Mikulas Havorka, and Tarasov.
Petry and Kunin were free agent bargain signings hoping to resurrect their careers.
Tarasov signed with hopes that a better defense than he had in Columbus would help him.
Sebrango and Schwindt were waiver pickups.
Vilmanis and Havorka were brought up from the minors.
The injury list in the final game against the Lightning was formidable.
Sasha Barkov is out for the regular season. Seth Jones has been out since being injured in the Winter Classic. Tomas Nosek, Jonah Gadjovich, and Dmitry Kulikov have been out long term.
Brad Marchand was out and has missed 10 games to injury in 2026. He has recovered sufficiently to join the Team Canada in Italy.
Evan Rodrigues was ill for the game, and Aaron Ekblad was out for an undisclosed reason.
Bjornfot’s injury forced the recall of Hovorka from Charlotte; he went back to the Checkers after making his NHL debut against the Lightning.
If the Tampa Bay game did not get away from Florida, there would have been some big minutes by regulars.
Uvis Balinskis led the Panthers with 28:58 on ice. Balinskis started the season as the seventh defenseman, but when Kulikov was injured in the second game Balinskis came in and has been solid and has played heavy minutes.
When Kulikov returns it is possible Balinskis will stay in the lineup and Petry will be the more frequent healthy scratch.
What about the next game?
Assuming the Olympic participants come back healthy, these looks like the changes.
Of all the players who missed the game before the break, the definite returnees are Ekblad, Rodrigues, and Marchand.
The other injured players are not quite ready.
“The three closest guys would be Kulikov, Nosek, and Gadjovich who were on the ice today,’’ Maurice said. :They’ll go probably non-contact this week and maybe get released for contact in and around the Toronto game which would keep them out of those games.
“If they could get through the week then somewhere on the road trip there’d be a chance they come back. They’ve been off an awfully long time, so we do need to get them to a certain level of confidence before they go in the games.”
The inference is that Jones’ return is still uncertain.
Tarasov and Bjornfot are “good to go.” The injuries were not as serious as they first appeared.
Based upon the update, it looks like Sebrango or Bjornfot will line up against Toronto Thursday on the third defense painting with Petry.
With Marchand and Rodrigues back the top three lines will be the familiar combinations of the season.
The fourth line may remain Sandis Vilmanis, Cole Schwindt, and Mackie Samoskevich.
The roster was at the maximum 23 for the last game.
With Havorka back in Charlotte and three injury returnees imminent some roster moves will be necessary.
But that’s a ‘next week’ problem it appears.
ON DECK: GAME No. 58
TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS at FLORIDA PANTHERS
