Lomberg Appears Back for Florida Panthers in Game 5 of Cup Final

FORT LAUDERDALE — With the Stanley Cup in the house, the Lomberghini might be coming out of the garage for the Florida Panthers.

In Monday’s practice ahead of Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Final, Ryan Lomberg was skating in Steven Lorentz’s usual spot on the fourth line alongside Kevin Stenlund and Kyle Okposo.

Lorentz, meanwhile, was filling in for the absent Matthew Tkachuk on the second line; Sam Bennett with replaced by Nick Cousins in practice. Carter Verhaeghe was the only regular from the second line to practice on Monday.

Lomberg and Cousins have been out of the lineup since Game 4 against the Rangers; Florida won six straight playoff games running the same lineup before Saturday’s loss in Edmonton.

When pressed on the issue, coach Paul Maurice did not offer up much.

“Yeah, I’ll consider it,” Maurice said.

The heavy-hitting, speedy 5-foot-9 forward holds a special place among his teammates, and they would be fired up with him in the lineup with the Cup on the line.

“He’s great. He’s awesome,” Sergei Bobrovsky said of Lomberg a few months ago. “He is the soul of the locker room.”

Lomberg has played sparingly throughout the playoffs — missing most of Round 1 with an illness and battling for a spot with Okposo, Stenlund and Cousins ever since — but he has kept a positive attitude about it.

“I would rather be fighting to play on this team than being in Cancun watching the playoffs on TV,” Lomberg told FHN last month.

Maurice has not confirmed whether that decision has been made or if he has talked to anyone about it, but he did say it would be a tough conversation to have when it happens.

“That would be the toughest thing,” Maurice said. “But a lot of the guys stand for the good of the team. Whether you like the coach or not, you handle it the best you can and you stay a part of the group.”

— Tkachuk, Bennett and Aaron Ekblad all missed practice on Monday.

Maurice said all three of them are fine and will be good to go for Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Final.