Tkachuk back in Panthers lineup after daughter’s birth; Nosek, Forsling out for finale
Matthew Tkachuk has spent the past week waiting for the moment that finally arrived when his daughter, Camille “Millie” Tkachuk, was born.
He left midway through the Florida Panthers’ final road trip to be with his wife Ellie as they went through their final round of appointments before their baby girl arrived early Monday morning.
“It was the greatest day of my life,” Tkachuk said Wednesday. “Millie and mom were rock stars. We’re back home now, and once we got back home, it really hit, and it’s been absolutely amazing so far. The greatest thing that’s ever happened.
“It just changes your whole life,” Tkachuk added. “Hockey has obviously been a huge part of my life forever, but it’s not even close to the number one thing in my life — that’s family and being able to serve a family of my own. Having everybody back home now, it makes it so, so special.”
But after that brief layoff, Tkachuk is set to return to Florida’s lineup for its regular-season finale against the Detroit Red Wings. The matchup itself has very little meaning in the grand scheme of the overall season — both the Panthers and Red Wings are out of playoff contention — but Tkachuk understands the importance of playing if he’s physically able to be on the ice.
“I’m able to play, I’m back home and family is good, so I’m gonna play,” said Tkachuk, who missed Florida’s first 47 games this season while recovering from offseason surgery to repair a torn adductor muscle and sports hernia and enters Wednesday with 32 points (13 goals, 19 assists) in 30 games. “It’s the NHL. It’s an honor to play each and every night.”
That fact that there’s a sense of finality to this game also makes playing on Wednesday important for Tkachuk. There’s no playoff chase this year, no Stanley Cup pursuit this season after three consecutive runs to the Cup Final and two consecutive championships won.
“I know it’s the last one,” Tkachuk said. “It’s kind of weird being a set date. This is the last game of the year. It’s not the year that anybody on our team wanted, individually or collectively, but there’s a whole lot we can learn from this year and take and try to make us better. But definitely a down year for everybody, and it sucks, but it’s going to have to motivate us to come back stronger next year. It has to.”
Nosek, Forsling out
While Tkachuk is returning, two more Panthers regulars will be sidelined for the finale.
Center Tomas Nosek, who missed Florida’s first 60 games because of knee surgery at the end of the offseason, broke his fibula late in the Panthers’ 3-2 win over the New York Rangers on Monday.
Panthers coach Paul Maurice said the break occurred when Florida was on the penalty kill late in the third period against the Rangers. Nosek not only finished that shift but played another 1:27 afterward. Nosek, who is set to be an unrestricted free agent this offseason, finished the season with four points (two goals, two assists) in 21 games played.
Defenseman Gustav Forsling, meanwhile, is shut down for the finale after playing through a slew of injuries down the stretch. Forsling played in 80 games, the most of any Florida player, and averaged more than 22-and-a-half minutes of ice time per game while producing 28 points (two goals, 26 assists).
With Forsling out, the Panthers will be without every defenseman from their Opening Night roster — Forsling, Aaron Ekblad (broken finger), Seth Jones (broken foot), Niko Mikkola (left knee), Dmitry Kulikov (broken finger), Uvis Balinksis (fractured foot) and Jeff Petry (traded) — for their finale on Wednesday.
The six defensemen suiting up for Florida against the Red Wings: Tobias Bjornfot (152 career NHL games, including 18 this season with Florida) and rookies Donovan Sebrango (41 games with Florida this season), Mike Benning (17 games with Florida), Marek Alscher (three games with Florida), Ludvig Jannson (three games with Florida) and Mikulas Hovorka (three game with Florida).
Nosek is one of eight mainstay Panthers forwards who not play Wednesday, along with Aleksander Barkov (right ACL/MCL), Sam Reinhart (foot), Brad Marchand (lower body), Carter Verhaeghe (lower body), Sam Bennett (lower body), Anton Lundell (ribs) and Jonah Gadjovich (upper body).
Tkachuk, Eetu Luostarinen, Mackie Samoskevich and A.J. Greer are the Panthers’ primary veterans in the lineup for the finale.
Daniil Tarasov is starting in net, with Sergei Bobrovsky the backup.
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