Jameson Olive: Florida Panthers forward Sam Bennett returned to the lineup last night.
Coach Paul Maurice: “He’s at 100%. He got himself to that point. He’s ready, he’s skating and he wants to play.”
Katie Engleson: Panthers defenseman Dmitry Kulikov also returned to the lineup last night.
TSN: Panthers coach Maurice on the Joe Rose Show of WQAM on forward Matthew Tkachuk, who is getting close to returning to the lineup: “This week is really important for him,” Maurice said. “He’s not that far off, If he’s not , he’s very, very close. We’re not missing this by two weeks.”
Tkachuk will start practicing with the team this week.
“It might be a day or two to get a full push,” said Maurice. “So what will happen is he’ll amp up to full skates and hard skates towards the middle to end of this week. As he goes through those, how quick he recovers the next day will be the key thing.
“If he comes in and there’s no soreness the next day, then he’s right and he’ll be ready to go. If he’s got a little residual soreness, we may need to hold another day or two, but he’s not that far off.”
Eric Engels: Montreal Canadiens forward Emil Heineman remains day-to-day with an upper-body injury.
TSN 120o Ottawa: Ottawa Senators forward Brady Tkachuk practiced in a no-contact jersey.
TSN 1200 Ottawa: Senators defenseman Jake Sanderson had a maintenance day.
Erik Erlendsson: Tampa Bay Lightning defenseman Darren Raddysh missed practice yesterday. Luke Glendening and Oliver Bjorkstrand were also absent.
Benjamin Pierce: Lightning assistant coach Rob Zettler said that Raddysh is a possibility for tonight: “He’s gonna skate tomorrow morning, see how it is. And there’s a good chance that he’ll play tomorrow. We’ll make a call tomorrow morning.”
Corey Long: Lightning’s Bjorkstrand is week-to-week with a lower-body injury and likely won’t be ready for the start of the playoffs.
Coach Jon Cooper: “It’s tough because he’s really grown into his role with us, and hopefully we’ll have him back for the playoffs at some point.”
The Washington Capitals Proving Retool on the Fly Done Right Can Work
First Up: Darren Dreger on TSN 1050 on Toronto Maple Leafs defensemen Jake McCabe and Oliver Ekman-Larsson.
“Well, again, it is day-to-day, and it doesn’t sound like it’s anything ominous at this point. Sure, they prefer to have those guys healthy and in the lineup, but they’re going to take advantage of the time that they have now.”
….
“But I don’t, I don’t get the sense that either McCabe, or OEL are serious enough to have concerns Game 1 on the playoffs. So I think that that’s what the Maple Leafs are looking forward to. And you know so they deal with a little adversity the next game, maybe two, it’s not that big of a deal.
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