FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla, — Eetu Luostarinen, Anton Lundell and A.J. Greer did not practice for the Florida Panthers on Saturday, in the team’s first skate since advancing to the Stanley Cup Final.
Florida will play the Edmonton Oilers in the Final for the second consecutive year, with Game 1 at Rogers Place in Edmonton on Wednesday (8 p.m. ET; TNT, truTV, MAX, SN, CBC, TVAS).
“I think the only question mark is Greer,” Panthers coach Paul Maurice said. “We will list him as day to day. The other guys are fine. They’ll be back on the ice tomorrow when we do a little bit of an optional.”
Luostarinen and Greer were each injured against the Carolina Hurricanes in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Final on Wednesday. Luostarinen left after the first period following a couple of hits, including one in which he went into the end boards. Greer, who missed Game 4 of the conference final with a lower-body injury, was limited to 4:22 in Game 5 and stayed on the bench for all but 22 seconds of the third period.
Lundell played 11 of his 27 shifts in the third period of Game 5 and scored the go-ahead goal in the second period.
Aside from those three players, the Panthers held a full practice at Baptist Health IcePlex on Saturday.
Goalie Sergei Bobrovsky spent most of the session working on a side rink with goalie coach Robb Tallas; Luostarinen was also on that ice sheet, working on the other side with skills coach Maxim Ivanov.
The Panthers won the Stanley Cup for the first time in their history by defeating the Oilers 2-1 in Game 7 of the Final last season.
Despite all of the games they have played the past three seasons, including 62 in the playoffs, Maurice said his team feels refreshed going into their third straight Stanley Cup Final.
“I will say, we will have more energy for this series than any of the three prior,” Maurice said. “I am sure that’s true for Edmonton as well. The regular season was more of a grind for us than either of the two previous. Then, in each round, there is a bigger build to excitement just because there is a light at the end of the tunnel.
“There are no more than seven games left in the season, no matter what. So, you will see a new energy source from both teams in this series.”
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