The latest on two injured Florida Panthers defensemen as team heads on the road
The Florida Panthers could be without two key defensemen when they begin their next road trip on Monday against the Colorado Avalanche.
Or they could be at full strength.
Panthers coach Paul Maurice didn’t have concrete decisions made on either Aaron Ekblad or Niko Mikkola after the team’s practice on Sunday before flying out for their two-game trip that also includes a stop against the Utah Hockey Club on Wednesday.
“I’ll give you an update after the morning skate,” Maurice said.
Mikkola was a full participant at practice on Sunday for the first time since sustaining an upper-body injury in the second period against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Dec. 23 that has caused him to miss four games so far. Ekblad, whose final shift on Friday against the Pittsburgh Penguins came with about six minutes left in the third period, did not skate.
“We got Niko through practice, so that’s the real positive,” Maurice said. “We’ll see how he reacts [Monday].”
Mikkola, who is in the second year of a three-year deal with the Panthers, is in the midst of a career season. He has already set a personal best with four goals. His 14 points are three shy of his single-season career-high of 17 set last season. He’s also averaging just over 20 minutes of ice time per game. He had played in all 118 regular-season games — plus all 24 games of Florida’s run to the Stanley Cup — of his Panthers tenure prior to this injury.
“He has been outstanding on our blue line for us this year and has been able to bring that emotion every night,” Maurice said. “His intensity level is very, very high. He hasn’t had any type of fall off from his performance. He’s been able to pick it up. It’s really impressive. It’s on and off the ice. It’s a presence, part of his character and his personalty. We miss it when he’s not in the lineup. I don’t think that we ever take it for granted, but sometimes it’s good that you miss a guy for a couple of games. You realize how important he is to your room.”
As for Ekblad, he has played in all 40 games so far this season and logged 20 points (two goals, 18 assists) while playing on Florida’s top defense pairing with Gustav Forsling and averaging nearly 23 and a half minutes of ice time per game.
Maurice didn’t provide specifics on Ekblad’s injury outside of saying “he’s dealing with something” and the injury is something that “just cropped up.”
In Ekblad’s absence at practice on Sunday, Dmitry Kulikov moved to the top pairing with Forsling, with Mikkola and Uvis Balinskis serving as the second pairing and Nate Schmidt and Adam Boqvist as the third pair.
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