Panthers fly to Boston facing elimination – Get Duclair and Ekblad back, Lomberg and Bennett questionable

SUNRISE – With Game 5 one day away, the Florida Panthers will head to Boston today with the hopes of returning to Sunrise with another game on the schedule.

The Panthers held a practice today at FLA Live Arena with most of the team in attendance.  Both Aaron Ekblad and Anthony Duclair were full participants today after missing Game 4 to injury.

Panthers head coach Paul Maurice confirmed that both Ekblad and Duclair would be “good to go” for Game 5.

While two players come back into the lineup, there’s question marks surrounding another pair of Panthers. 

Sam Bennett and Ryan Lomberg were the only two players to not be on the ice today at practice.

Maurice said that he expects “one of them in for sure”, while the other will be a gametime decision. He did not specify which player would be the game time decision.

Bennett missed Game 1 with a lingering injury that had kept him out of the lineup for the last 12 games of the regular season. Bennett is a point-per-game in this series and is a key player as the Panthers’ second line center. 

Ryan Lomberg played in all 82 regular season games as well as the first four games of the playoffs. 

Both Bennett and Lomberg played their normal minutes in Sunday’s Game 4 loss. 

As for the starting goalie, Maurice didn’t say who would be in the net tomorrow, which was expected. Alex Lyon started Games 1-3, giving up nine goals over that span. Sergei Bobrovsky conceded five goals in his Game 4 start, while also giving up one goal in his short third period stint in Game 3.

Down 3-1 in the series, the Panthers locker room still has full confidence that they can turn the series around and return home for a Game 6 on Friday. 

“We’re not out of this series, we still got a lot more in our locker room, now it’s just do or die,” Sam Bennett said on Monday. 

The Bruins can advance to the second round with a win on Wednesday night, but they’ll still have some breathing room if they can’t get the job done at home tomorrow. The Panthers know the task at hand won’t be easy, but they have no other choice but to win – otherwise they’ll be packing up their lockers this week. 

“Essentially we got three Game 7’s coming up, we’re just going to focus on Game 5 right now,” Panthers defenseman Josh Mahura said. “Obviously it’s not the easiest situation to be in, but we’re not out of it. It’s the first team to four.”

Puck drop will be tomorrow at 7 p.m. ET at the TD Garden in Boston. 

If the Panthers can get out of Boston with a win, there will be a Game 6 on Friday in Sunrise.