

The battle of Florida figures to produce plenty of injuries given that the Florida Panthers and Tampa Bay Lightning own one of the NHL’s most tenacious rivalries and are preparing for battle beginning with Tuesday’s Game 1 of their much anticipated Stanley Cup playoff series.
Before the series even begins, Lightning coach Jon Cooper has announced that one of his more versatile forwards won’t play against Florida.
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Cooper announced on Saturday that forward Oliver Bjorkstrand will miss the entire series against Florida because of a lower-body injury that was sustained on April 11 against the Detroit Red Wings.
The loss of Bjorkstrand is a considerable blow to Tampa Bay’s secondary scoring.
Bjorkstrand was acquired by the Lightning earlier this season from the Seattle Kraken in a move that also saw forward Yanni Gourde return to Tampa.
The 30-year-old Bjorkstrand has been a steady offensive contributor throughout his 10-season NHL career. He has eclipsed 20 goals in six seasons. Bjorkstrand has played well since joining the high-flying Lightning, producing five goals and nine points in 18 games. Bjorkstrand has also been a fairly strong postseason performer in his NHL career, accumulating 10 goals and 20 points in 45 career Stanley Cup playoff games.
Tampa Bay is 9-5-4 with Bjorkstrand in the lineup.
His injury is just one of numerous storylines in this series pertaining to health.
About 260 miles southeast, Matthew Tkachuk skated with his Panthers teammates during practice on Saturday.
Tkachuk, injured in the 4 Nations Face-Off in February, hasn’t played a game with the Panthers since Feb. 8. There is considerable hope that the face of the defending champion Panthers will be available when the puck drops for Game 1 at 8:30 p.m. on Tuesday in Tampa’s Amalie Arena.
Tkachuk has registered 46 points in 44 games during the Panthers’ past two postseasons, both of which resulted in trips to the Stanley Cup Final. Tkachuk had 22 goals and 57 points in 55 games this season before being derailed by a lower-body injury.
“It was a special teams day, so it’s not a lot of contact, not a lot of five men moving, but it was a good day for where we’re at,” Florida coach Paul Maurice said of Tkachuk. “Matthew looked like Matthew. He looked fine, but it wasn’t a heavy enough day, or from a duration point of view, long enough to make a game assessment. We’ll see how it comes back in and put the whole group back on the ice on Monday (at practice).”
(Photo: Kim Klement Neitzel / Imagn Images)
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