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Tkachuk had to be helped off the ice late in the first period of Monday's 4-0 loss to the Lightning after a knee-on-knee collision with Nikita Kucherov, but he was able to return to the lineup in the second period.

Kucherov got a game misconduct for the dirty hit, but Tkachuk seems to have avoided what at the time looked like a very serious injury. The Panthers star still played only 11:14 on the night, well below his usual workload, and it's not yet clear if that was due to lingering soreness in the knee or just an abundance of caution from the training staff. Florida is off until Saturday due to the holiday break, so Tkachuk will get extra time to heal up. Through 31 appearances this season, he's produced 13 goals and 35 points with 88 shots on net, 53 hits, 26 PIM and a minus-5 rating.

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