SUNRISE, Fla. — NHL playoffs are underway and the reigning Stanley Cup champions, the Florida Panthers, are preparing for their first postseason showdown against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Tuesday.
For the fourth time in five years, the Cats will have to go through the Bolts to continue the postseason run. The team finished 47-31-4 in the regular season, going without star forward Matthew Tkachuk since early March after he was injured in the Four Nations Face-off tournament.
Watch Fox 4's Alex Orenczuk preview game one of the Florida Panthers postseason:
Tkachuk skated with the team during a Saturday practice, but Head Coach Paul Maurice said it's uncertain if he will play in game one.
“We’ll see how he feels coming back in tomorrow,” Maurice said after practice on Monday. “And if he feels good and gets through that morning skate and everybody is thumbs up, then we’ll go.”
The Panthers will start the postseason without defenseman Aaron Ekblad ,too. He’s serving a 20-game suspension for testing positive for PEDs in March. He will be available for game three.
The healthy players hitting the ice include Captain Aleksander Barkov, Sam Reinhardt, Carter Verhaeghe and Sergei Bobrovsky. Brad Marchand, Seth Jones and Vitek Vanecek are making their first playoff run with the team as the newest players.
Game one starts at 8:30 p.m. Tuesday. Fans can catch all the postseason action on Fox 4 as your broadcast partner of the Florida Panthers! Tune to channel 36.3 on your TV or channel 221 on Xfinity.
