The Florida Panthers will resume their chase for a playoff spot on Thursday night when they return from the Olympic break to meet the Toronto Maple Leafs in Sunrise, Fla.
“It’s high urgency,” Panthers defenseman Aaron Ekblad said. “The guys are really battling hard in practice, trying to make plays, holding onto pucks. Everybody’s gone all out. The thought process here is — all systems go.”
The Maple Leafs, who also are on the outside of a playoff spot, returned from the break on Wednesday with a 4-2 road loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Ekblad described what it will take for Florida to earn a chance to go for a third straight Stanley Cup title.
“A lot of unity, a lot of persistence, the ability to shake things off if things don’t go our way, but also a need to find a way to get on a run,” he said. “That’s who we are.”
The Panthers soon could benefit from the return of some injured players, with Dmitry Kulikov (shoulder) and Jonah Gadjovich (upper body) close to being ready. Seth Jones (upper body) is not far behind.
“At some point, we are going to need these players to come back and play for us to give us a chance,” Panthers coach Paul Maurice said.
Maurice said he feels that, in essence, the playoffs already have started for the Panthers because each game has become so important.
“This is a veteran team that clearly understands what is ahead of us,” Maurice said. “We don’t have 25 games left. We have 25 one-game (seasons) left. You really narrow your focus and don’t get ahead of yourself. Like the playoffs, don’t carry a loss into the next day. Cut it off and move on.”
On Wednesday, the Maple Leafs fell behind 3-0 even though Tampa Bay had two early goals disallowed after video reviews revealed the team was offsides prior to the tallies.
Anthony Stolarz started in goal for the Maple Leafs and stopped 32 shots. Joseph Woll is scheduled to start on Thursday.
Maple Leafs captain Auston Matthews played Wednesday. He was captain of Team USA, which won the Olympic gold medal on Sunday.
“After (the Olympics), you’re coming off a high and coming back here,” Matthews said. “It’s been a whirlwind 72 hours. It’s important to be back here with my teammates and have a good push.”
Matthews played 22:54 and had one assist vs. Tampa Bay.
“I thought he was fine,” Maple Leafs coach Craig Berube said. “I used him a lot at the end, obviously, with the goalie out. They did some really good things with the goalie out. I didn’t sense he was tired or anything like that. He was good.”
Toronto’s Matthew Knies collected a goal and an assist, John Tavares scored a goal, and William Nylander had two assists.
“I thought we played a good, solid first period,” Berube said. “We had three 2-on-1s in the first period and didn’t get a shot off. We have to execute those plays better.
“In the second period, we were flat early, and they got a couple of goals. That is the difference in the game for me.”
The Maple Leafs know they need to play with urgency.
“It has to be for 60 minutes,” Berube said. “We have a big game again (Thursday). We have to look at some things from this game, learn from it, and be better.”
