Ekblad returns from suspension: 'I'm never out to hurt anybody on the ice'
Published
The Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers will be getting some help on their blueline for Wednesday's Game 2 against the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Veteran defenceman Aaron Ekblad will be in the lineup after completing a two-game suspension for a hit on Brandon Hagel during the first-round series against the Tampa Bay Lightning.
"I was aiming for his chest and I caught him in the chin," Ekblad told reporters in Toronto on Wednesday. "I'm never out to hurt anybody on the ice. It's unfortunate the way that the outcome happened. It is what it is and we all move on."
Ekblad has one goal in two playoff games against the Lightning after returning from a 20-game suspension for performance-enhancing drugs that ended his regular season. The 29-year-old had three goals and 33 points in 56 games before that suspension.
"Whirlwind of a season," he said. "It's not the way I scripted it, but we're here now. We're in the playoffs. It's a great opportunity to continue playing hockey."
Uvi Balinskis dressed on the Panthers third pairing and scored a goal in Game 1, but is set to serve as a scratch in Game 2.
Ekblad, a native of Windsor, has spent his entire 11-year career with the Panthers after they selected him first overall in 2014, scoring 118 goals and 262 assists over 732 games. He has five goals and 16 assists over 66 career playoff games.
While Ekblad draws in on defence, the Panthers will also make one change to their forward lines after losing Game 1, replacing A.J. Greer with Mackie Samoskevich on the fourth line.
Samoskevich has one assist in three playoff games this spring, while Greer is without a point in three games.
The 22-year-old Samoskevich had 15 goals and 31 points in 72 games during the regular season. Greer, 28, had six goals and 17 points in 81 games while picking up 130 penalty minutes.