The latest on Matthew Tkachuk’s status for Panthers’ must win Game 5 in Stanley Cup Final

The Florida Panthers are holding off until the last possible moment to reveal Matthew Tkachuk’s status for Game 5 of the 2023 Stanley Cup Final on Tuesday.

Paul Maurice said Tkachuk’s status would be a “game-time decision,” but really it will be a game-time divulgence, as the coach already knows whether his superstar right wing will be available for the Panthers’ must-win game with the Vegas Golden Knights in Nevada.

“I know the answer to that question,” Maurice said. “I’m not sharing it with you.”

Tkachuk is dealing with an apparent upper-body injury and played just four shifts in the third period of Game 4 on Saturday in Sunrise with the bulk of his third-period minutes coming in the final 2:26 after Florida emptied its net to create a 6-on-5 advantage. He took just four shots in the one-goal loss to the Golden Knights, which sent the Panthers to the brink of elimination.

Even compromised, Tkachuk can still be valuable on power plays, where he can plant himself near the net without needing to skate into more vulnerable open-ice areas or shoot from distance.

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The All-Star winger will not, however, be limited to just playing situational minutes in Game 5, if he plays — at least to start.

“There would be no limit at the start of the game, but that would be true of any player that I put in that was dealing with something,” Maurice said. “Maybe there’s a simplicity in there for the coach, too. I don’t have to manage minutes for the next game.”

Tkachuk did not practice Monday in Las Vegas or participate in an optional morning skate Tuesday, although neither of those developments is out of the ordinary. Tkachuk rarely participates in morning skates on game days and has often skipped practice throughout the 2023 Stanley Cup playoffs.

With 24 points in these Stanley Cup playoffs, Tkachuk entered Tuesday tied for the postseason lead and his run through the Cup playoffs has turned him into one of the NHL’s signature stars. He’s also a finalist for the Hart Memorial Trophy, which will be handed out to the league’s most valuable player at the NHL Awards on June 26 in Nashville, and became a contender for the Conn Smythe Trophy by scoring four game-winning goals in the first three rounds of the playoffs, including three in overtime.

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Although both Tkachuk and Florida have shied away from providing too much detail about it, the injury likely stems from a massive open-ice hit he took from Golden Knights forward Keegan Kolesar in the first period of Game 3 on Thursday at FLA Live Arena. Tkachuk missed nearly a full period after he went into the locker room for league-mandated concussion testing, but he was able to return and scored a game-tying goal with 2:13 to force overtime in Florida’s lone win of the Stanley Cup Final so far.

Tkachuk did not record a point in the Panthers’ one-goal loss in Game 4. He did, however, enter Tuesday in Las Vegas with a chance to make history: His 50 penalty minutes in the championship series are just three away from tying the record for most in a single Cup Final.

Maurice didn’t have updates on any of Florida’s other injuries, either, after forwards Nick Cousins and Eetu Luostarinen, and defensemen Radko Gudas and Brandon Montour didn’t participate in practice Monday. Cousins took part in a morning skate Tuesday, though, and Montour said he was good to go for Game 5.

The outlook is a bit bleaker for Luostarinen, who hasn’t played since sustaining a lower-body injury in the final game of the Eastern Conference finals and has only practiced once since then, way back on June 2 on the eve of the Final.

Panthers reflect on Bruins comeback

A comeback in the Final for the Panthers would be a once-in-80-years feat for the NHL.

After losing 3 of 4 to start the series, Florida needs to win three straight to beat the Golden Knights and lift its first Cup. No team has pulled off such a championship comeback since the Maple Leafs in the 1942 Stanley Cup Final.

The Panthers pulled off a similar one less than two months ago, though, and they embraced their experience in the lead up to Game 5, going back to talk about how they did it to shock the Bruins in Round 1 in April.

“We talk about it. We’ve done it before. It’s nice to have that to fall back on mentally going into a game like today,” defenseman Marc Staal said. “We’re going to work as hard as we’ve ever worked to recreate that. Right now, it’s about tonight. We’re trying to win a game. That’s what we’re going to do. That’s how we approached Boston.”