"He's going back to the doctor's today and he's hopefully going to get back on the ice in the next week or so," Panthers coach Bob Boughner said after Thursday's practice at the Panthers IceDen. "Optimistically, [he returns] sometime in the beginning of February, middle of February."

An all-star in 2017 and coming off a career-best campaign in which he posted 31 goals and 75 points, Trocheck's return will give the Panthers a shot in the arm heading into the home stretch.

Described as "the engine" of the team by Boughner, the 25-year-old had tallied three goals and 11 assists while averaging over 20 minutes of ice time per game prior to being knocked out of the lineup in Ottawa on Nov. 19, when he fell and twisted his right leg behind the Senators net.

"We are getting Troch back at some point, and I'm excited for that," Boughner said. "It's like making a trade for a high-end player."

That being said, Boughner knows his team can't wait for Trocheck to make their move.

Coming out of the break with wins in four of their last five games, the Panthers will have a great opportunity to gain some major ground in the standings when they kick off a back-to-back set at home against Montreal Canadians, who they haven't seen since the preseason, on Friday night.

Florida (15-14-6) currently trails Montreal, which will be without starting goaltender Carey Price, by seven points for the second wild card in the Eastern Conference with two games in hand.

"We just have to be consistent," Panthers defenseman Aaron Ekblad said. "Consistency is our biggest thing right now. Just move the puck up the ice, get it to our forwards that can score and really work [the Canadiens] down low.

"It's extremely important. This is the times where true character shows. I think everybody in this room, with the games we've been playing and the way we've been playing, we're going to be fine."

After a slow start of the season, Boughner believes the Panthers are starting to hit their stride.

"We've clawed our way back a little bit," he said. "You can see a little bit of light at the end of the tunnel. I think we're in some striking distance. We've put some teams behind us and now we're in striking distance of teams ahead of us. Who knows what he second half's going to have in store for us, but I'm excited for it. I think we've turned a corner as a team."



BJUGSTAD UPDATE



Nick Bjugstad was once again sporting a yellow no-contact jersey at practice. The 26-year-old forward has been sidelined with an upper-body injury since Dec. 16, missing each of Florida's last eight games. He has four goals and 10 points in 27 games this season. "We'll see how he feels when he gets off [the ice]," Boughner said. "I know he said he's had a couple good days here in the last few days, so that's encouraging." Bjugstad was believed to be close to returning to the lineup before the break, joining the team on their pre-break road trip. Unfortunately, he suffered a setback and was eventually ruled out. More updates on his status will likely be available after tomorrow's morning skate.



THURSDAY'S PRACTICE LINES



Forwards



Jonathan Huberdeau - Aleksander Barkov - Evgenii Dadonov



Frank Vatrano - Henrik Borgstrom - Mike Hoffman



Troy Brouwer - Jared McCann - Denis Malgin



Micheal Haley - Colton Sceviour - Jayce Hawryluk



Extra: Juho Lammikko



Defensemen



Keith Yandle - Aaron Ekblad



Mike Matheson - MacKenzie Weegar



Bogdan Kiselevich - Mark Pysyk



Extra: Alexander Petrovic



Goalies



Roberto Luongo



James Reimer

