Panthers star Matthew Tkachuk played through fractured sternum before sitting out Game 5
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It took a fractured sternum to keep Matthew Tkachuk off the ice for Game 5 of the 2023 Stanley Cup Final on Tuesday and even that nearly didn’t do it.
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, and it took a game and a half for the pain to finally become so unbearable for Tkachuk to sit out.
The 25-year-old American could not dress himself for Game 4, Maurice said, and ultimately the pain became unbearable when he woke up Friday. Florida was holding out hope the pain would subside before Game 5, but it didn’t and the Vegas Golden Knights pounded the short-handed Panthers, 9-3, to win their first Stanley Cup on Tuesday at T-Mobile Arena.
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“The next game, he was so smart. He can find a way around the ice. I think he had three of our est chances to score in that game, but he couldn’t do the things that he can do to finish,” Maurice said. “Somebody helped him get his gear on, somebody tied his skates, somebody put his sweater on for him, but the next day when he came in, he was in significant pain, so it wasn’t really a question of whether he would play or not.”
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. The 27-year-old Canadian only missed one game in the Stanley Cup playoffs “and went on the ice every night and drove the puck into the offensive zone,” Maurice said.
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Defenseman Radko Gudas also sustained a high ankle sprain in Game 3 of the Cup Final and only missed a single period, Maurice said.
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.
“It’s not an excuse because we don’t need one,” Maurice said. “Everybody’s got injuries. I’ve never seen guys play with what these guys played with, the sheer number of them.”
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.”
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