FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- Aleksander Barkov could return from a lower-body injury for the Florida Panthers as early as this week, coach Paul Maurice said.
Maurice said the Panthers captain skated before practice Monday and is on track to return as early as this week on Florida’s upcoming three-game road trip against the New York Rangers (Thursday), New York Islanders (Saturday), or Buffalo Sabres (Oct. 28).
The Panthers play the Dallas Stars in the 2024 NHL Global Series presented by Fastenal in Barkov’s hometown of Tampere, Finland, on Nov. 1-2.
Maurice says Barkov, who has missed five games since slamming into the end boards skates-first after sliding in an attempt to stop an empty-net goal with 1:10 remaining in a 3-1 loss to the Ottawa Senators on Oct. 10, will be ready for that.
“I think it will be sometime on this trip and I think he plays before we go to Finland,” said Maurice, whose team is 3-1-1 without its two star forwards. “If it is not right where we need to be, it will be in Finland. But he will be playing.’’ -- George Richards
Florida (4-2-1) defeated the Vegas Golden Knights 4-3 in overtime Saturday with only 17 healthy skaters available. They host the Minnesota Wild on Tuesday (6:30 p.m. ET; FDSNWI, FDSNNO, SCRIPPS).
Maurice said last week he hoped Barkov could return to the lineup in a week or two.
"He is really in tune with his body, puts a lot of time into it," Maurice said. "He was here for a long time [Wednesday] getting worked on. He will play as soon as he says he is 100 percent ready."
The Panthers have also been without forward Matthew Tkachuk, who has missed the past five games because of an illness. He also skated Monday and is likely to return against the Wild on Tuesday.
“Based on what I saw in practice, I will assume he plays tomorrow,” Maurice said Monday. “We need to make sure he comes to the rink feeling as good as he left, but we expect those things to happen. We expect him to play. We were cautious. … It got taken care of.’’
With Barkov and Tkachuk out, the Panthers have had to use defenseman Uvis Balinskis on the fourth line the past five games.
"He was really good, positionally he was right," Maurice said. "I am not trying to turn him into a forward, but we're dealing with some things here."
Forward Jonah Gadjovich left a 3-2 overtime loss to the Vancouver Canucks on Thursday with an upper-body injury. With Barkov, Tkachuk and Gadjovich unavailable Saturday, and the Panthers unable to call up a player due to NHL salary cap constraints, they played with 11 forwards (counting Balinskis) and six defensemen.
