ESTERO — Five members of the Florida Everblades will not be making the weekend road trip to Pensacola with the team, including one of their hottest players of late, fiery forward Kevin Bergin.

The 24-year-old Montreal native suffered a badly bruised knuckle in his right hand during a fight last Saturday night with Idaho Steelheads and former Everblades forward Greg Hornby right off the face-off in a 4-3 win for Florida. He won the fight convincingly, but had remarked after the game how hard Hornby’s head was.

“It’s tough to miss these two games against Pensacola,” said Bergin after Wednesday morning’s practice, during which he skated in a yellow non-contact jersey. “Hopefully the team will get on a roll and win two games in a row, but I definitely want to be back for Greenville next week (Tuesday and Wednesday at Germain Arena). That’s two important games because they’re right behind us in the standings, so I want to play in those games, they’re more important.”

In addition to the 6-foot-2, 200-pound forward, defensemen Ryan Brindley (knee) and Grant McNeill (ankle) and forwards Greg Black (ribs) and Bogdan Rudenko (concussion) will stay behind. Brindley and McNeill both are on the 30-day injured reserve and Black and Rudenko remain on the 7-day.

The rest of the Everblades boarded a bus Wednesday night, will practice in Pensacola today and play back-to-back games Friday and Saturday nights at the Pensacola Civic Center, with both games starting at 8:05.

Florida has a record of 27-14-3 and is in second place in the South Division of the ECHL’s American Conference, 10 points behind first-place Gwinnett (67-57). Pensacola (16-24-5) is in last place, 20 points behind the Everblades, Bergin is Florida’s third leading scorer with 39 points (17 goals, 22 assists), and seemed to spark the team’s turnaround as far as attitude over the final two games against Idaho. He fought twice and came up with some clutch goals and assists.

“He’s been on a roll lately and it’s going to be a tough loss, but that’s part of the game,” Everblades head coach Gerry Fleming said.

Fleming did say forwards Reggie Berg (wrist) and Paul Cabana (groin) will make the trip and it will be a game-time decision on whether or not they will be in the lineup. Both players practiced Thursday and participated in all the drills. They said afterward they felt ready and hoped to be able to contribute.

Berg, 29, hasn’t played since Florida’s 4-0 opening night loss to the Las Vegas Wranglers on Oct. 28, a game in which he tore tendons in his right wrist in the first period. He had surgery shortly thereafter and has been rehabilitating the injury and working on his conditioning ever since. He didn’t start to skate until a little over two weeks ago.

“I’d be kidding myself if I didn’t think it was going to take some time because there obviously is a transition period,” Berg said before heading into the weight room. “I kept myself in good shape and skated extremely hard by myself, but as soon as you throw other guys out there and the bumping and grinding starts it’s a completely different scenario. So I just have to be patient.”

This isn’t the first time in his career Berg has had to deal with ending a lengthy absence due to injury. Last season, he missed 11 weeks with a torn medial collateral ligament in his left knee. He also has suffered four concussions over his seven-year professional career.

As fate would have it, with Bergin, Black and Rudenko unable to play, Berg will be put to the test right away by having to be on the ice for four games in a six-day span. He’s been eagerly awaiting the chance to see what he can do against live competition, not only to see how the wrist feels but also to see how he can handle the psychological part.

“Anytime you have an extended absence from the game, I think the toughest part is the mental side,” Berg said. “The last couple of years those injuries haven’t been minor ailments, so you just have to keep working and that’s all you can really do. One good thing about making my return away from home is that I can knock a little rust off on the road before I come home, so I’m really looking forward to getting back out on the ice.”

NOTES: Former Everblades rookie forward Jonathan Lehun was claimed off waivers Wednesday by the Stockton Thunder of the National Conference’s Pacific Division. Lehun, 21, who was traded by Florida to Pensacola on Jan. 8 along with rookie defenseman Nick Vukovic in exchange for veteran defenseman Corey Neilson, was released by the Ice Pilots on Tuesday.

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