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It is still unknown whether Matthew Tkachuk will play for the Panthers in the next match. It will be a big shock if Tkachuk is not available. However, the Florida Panthers' coach believes that they must do their best even without him.
"You know what, it's more important to get rest for the players who aren't banged up, because they're going to have to drive this thing," Panthers coach Paul Maurice said, as quoted by NHL. Tkachuk is sad and disappointed about the injury.
His goal was always to help the team. "Just trying to find a way to go out there and make it work tonight and came up just probably a second short," Tkachuk said. "Time ran out there with me and [forward Sam Bennett] whacking away, so two more seconds there, you never know." Maurice confirmed that more will be known tomorrow.
"Guys will come in for rehab here now in the next hour or two," Maurice said. "The rest of the healthy guys will meet us at the plane, so we'll have more for you tomorrow."
Paul Maurice on his players
Paul Maurice answered the reporter's question about how he will get the "most" from Tkachuk if he plays the next match.
"There are players who will play just power play. There are guys who will stay on for offensive zone draws. There are different styles of center, winger, you can play with to kind of put them in a position to be good at what they can be good at," he said.
Maurice knows how important the match is waiting for him and how important each player is to him. "Every team has injuries this time of year, but your healthy men drive the bus now," Maurice said. "The injured guys have probably been dealing with it for a while.
They know what they can get away with. When you get later into a series, and certainly in our situation, you're not going to leave [forward Aleksander] Barkov on the bench very much. So, the guys that are feeling good, the two days will fill the tank for them."
