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Tkachuk will be out for about a week and is expected to return on October 22nd

BOSTON – Matthew Tkachuk will be out of the lineup for approximately a week, head coach Paul Maurice announced before Monday's game against the Boston Bruins at TD Garden.

“He’ll be out for a week,” Maurice said. “I think we’ll be playing at home for Minnesota a week from tomorrow.”

Tkachuk initially had to sit out Saturday's defeat in Buffalo due to illness.

No further information regarding his status is currently available.

Fortunately, if Tkachuk is able to return to action on the scheduled date of October 22nd, the superstar forward will have only missed five games. Before this matchup against the Wild, the Panthers play against the Bruins, Blue Jackets, Canucks and Golden Knights.

Entering his third season with the Panthers, Tkachuk has scored a team-high 199 points (66 goals, 133 assists) in 161 games since arriving in 2022. In the first two games of this season he had excellent results, notching two assists, before falling ill.

Tkachuk joins Aleksander Barkov as key players for the Panthers, who have struggled with early-season ailments.

Barkov (upper body) is expected to be out for two to three weeks.

Nevertheless, the reigning Stanley Cup champions are confident in their next-man-up mentality.

“You might as well jump into this (adversity) early because it’s going to come all year long,” defenseman Nate Schmidt said. “I might as well get it over with and hope that's the only thing you come across.”

The Panthers will drop the puck against the Bruins at 1 p.m. ET.

With Barkov and Tkachuk out, they will use 11 forwards and seven defensemen.

To watch from home, visit FloridaPanthers.com/HowToWatch.

By Vanessa

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