They're claiming a lot of players were banged up.
Panthers star Matthew Tkachuk played through fractured sternum before sitting out Game 5
The superstar right wing sustained the injury in the first period of Game 3 on Thursday, scored a game-tying goal in the third period later in the game and then logged 16:40 of time on ice in Game 4 on Saturday before he finally shut himself down for the final game of the 2023 Stanley Cup playoffs. “He fractured it,” coach Paul Maurice said. “That was a bit of a problem.”
Tkachuk is one of four players who broke bones during the Panthers’ postseason run, the first-year coach said,
Although he didn’t divulge all the injuries Florida dealt with on the road to the Stanley Cup Final, Maurice did share a few others.
Aaron Ekblad weathered a litany of injuries and only missed one game in the first round. The star defenseman broke a foot in round one, dislocated his shoulder twice, passed a concussion test at another point and tore an oblique muscle.
Defenseman Radko Gudas also sustained a high ankle sprain in Game 3 of the Cup Final
Center Sam Bennett, who missed the first game of the Cup playoffs as he recovered from one injury, sustained another injury in Round 2 and at one point was unable to remove his own shoulder pads after a game with the Maple Leafs.
Some of the Panthers’ injuries will linger into the 2023-23 NHL season. The next regular season will begin in October and some of the injuries will keep players out 4-6 months, Maurice said. “We’re going to have a hell of a time making the playoffs next year. That’s a fact because it’s hard because good teams miss,” the 56-year-old Canadian said. “We’re going to have some players in that locker room that are going to be on our roster, but they will not be in our opening-day lineup and we’re probably talking two or three months. I’ve got some guys who are going to take 4-6 months to heal. They are going to have surgery, so we are going to look different at the start.”