“It brought a little bit of fun back to the group,’’ Maurice said. “You forget how big [Ekblad] is (6-foot-4, 220 pounds), and then he steps on the ice and you’re like ‘Oh man, we’re big now’ because [Seth] Jones (6-4, 213) is also on the ice. … We’re putting our lines together, and you forget about him because he hasn’t been in the lineup so long.
“It’ll be pretty good when he’s back out there. It’s just a reminder of how good a player he is, and how good it is to have him back.’’
Ekblad said skating with some friends — including former NHL defenseman and Panthers teammate Keith Yandle — helped him through.
“It has been a long four or five weeks of being alone,’’ Ekblad said. “I have a great support structure here in Florida, obviously, a lot of friends away from the game that I could lean on in that time. But to be back with the team is unbelievable. One of the better days.
“It was obviously tough. Being injured is obviously a bit of a different animal. it’s worse, in a sense, because you can’t do all those things that you want to do to stay in shape, and that can be tough. This was a little bit easier in the sense that I was able to mentally and physically stay in it as best I could.”
Ekblad’s suspension came three days after NHL Trade Deadline, and coincided with the Panthers leaving for a six-game road trip, in which they went 2-4-0.
Prior to the suspension, Ekblad had 33 points (three goals, 30 assists) in 56 games; his goal total is his fewest in his 11-season NHL career, all with Florida, which selected him with the No. 1 pick in the 2014 NHL Draft.
The Panthers are 7-8-1 without Ekblad and are tied with the Tampa Bay Lightning for second place in the Atlantic Division after Saturday’s 3-2 shootout win against the Buffalo Sabres.
Florida did not play top-line forwards Aleksander Barkov and Sam Reinhart against the Sabres on Saturday. Maurice will rest them with the Panthers playing their final three regular-season games in a span of four days.
“The team is doing great,” Ekblad said. “Guys are coming in and out of the lineup, getting them rest for the playoffs. That’s important this time of year. We know that we’re going to go on a run, we want to go on a run.
“Health is really important, and I’m really happy with the way the team has battled as much as they could.”