Sergei Bobrovsky and Aaron Ekblad absent from training

Only one game remains to be played in the Stanley Cup Grand Final, between the Edmonton Oilers and the Florida Panthers.

The final match takes place on Monday night, and the Oilers could do the unthinkable: win the Stanley Cup after trailing 0-3.

This has only happened once before in NHL history, in 1942.

The Toronto Maple Leafs overcame a 0-3 deficit to win the Cup.

Since then, a reverse sweep has only happened on three occasions, but never in the grand final.

With the news of the Panthers’ early morning workout on the eve of Game #7, the Oilers’ chances look better, although the challenge will be a big one.

Star goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky and Aaron Ekblad were not at practice Sunday morning.

In addition to goalie Sergei Bobrovsky, defenseman Aaron Ekblad, who has been skipping practice days of late and participating in morning skates on game days, also not practicing with Panthers today.

– Tom Gulitti (@TomGulittiNHL) June 23, 2024

As for Ekblad, as Tom Gulitti mentions in his tweet above, he often skips his turn recently for practice days, but still participates in morning workouts on game days.

In Bobrovsky’s case, it’s much more unusual, as he’s always the first on the ice by far.

Oddly, Sergei Bobrovsky is not one of the two goalies warming up before the Panthers’ practice, scheduled to begin at 11 a.m.

Anthony Stolarz and Spencer Knight are out there.

Bobrovsky is usually the first one on the ice, well before this, on a practice day.

– Tom Gulitti (@TomGulittiNHL) June 23, 2024

Anthony Stolarz and Spencer Knight were the two goaltenders at today’s practice.

Here are the defensive trios and pairs at Panthers practice with the absentees:

Panthers lines and D at practice today:

Verghaeghe-Barkov-Reinhart
Rodgrigues-Bennett-Tkachuk
Luostarinen-Lundell-Tarasenko
Lomberg-Stenlund-Cousins

Forsling-Mahura*
Mikkola-Montour
OEL-Kulikov

Stolarz
Knight*

*Mahura filling in for Ekblad. Bobrovsky also not practicing.

– Tom Gulitti (@TomGulittiNHL) June 23, 2024

Joshua Mahura took Ekblad’s place at today’s practice.

Vladimir Tarasenko has also been promoted to the first wave of the power play, in favor of Carter Verhaeghe.

The one notable change the Panthers are showing today is Vladimir Tarasenko being on the top power-play unit replacing Carter Verhaeghe, who dropped to the second PP unit.

– Dan Rosen (@drosennhl) June 23, 2024

On the eve of the final game of the Stanley Cup Final, these major absences are clearly frightening, but there’s no need to be alarmed.

Bobrovsky has been keeping goal wonderfully since the start of the playoffs, except for the last two games, and could benefit from a day’s rest.

And Stephen Whyno clarified, following the press conference with Paul Maurice after training, that there was nothing to be alarmed about and that Bobrovsky and Ekblad will play game #7.

No issues as expected with The Bob or Ekblad, who did not practice, Maurice says.

– Stephen Whyno (@SWhyno) June 23, 2024

Paul Maurice also clarified after practice that the Russian goaltender doesn’t normally practice the day before playoff games.

The Panthers simply wanted to put him back on his usual schedule, as he was unable to rest in the final, as there are two days off between home and away games.

Panthers coach Paul Maurice said that normally during playoffs, Bobrovsky didn’t practice on day before games, but with 2-break between games, he had been in SCF. So, they wanted to get him back on his regular schedule and gave him off today. He’ll skate tomorrow morning.

– Tom Gulitti (@TomGulittiNHL) June 23, 2024

And let’s face it, even if the two star players were bothered by an injury of some kind, they’d probably have played anyway, unless it was too serious.