The defenseman was a healthy scratch. He hadn't missed a game since March 22, 2009, with the Phoenix Coyotes.
Yandle was replaced by forward Sam Bennett, who didn't play Game 2 on Tuesday because he was serving a one-game suspension from the NHL Department of Player Safety for boarding Lightning forward Blake Coleman in Game 1. The Panthers used seven defensemen in Game 2.
Florida trails the best-of-7 series 2-1.
"Extremely difficult," Panthers coach Joel Quenneville said Friday about the decision to sit Yandle. "We've had a number of defensemen play probably comparable and those guys have been out. With 'Yands,' we're always aware of the situation in the regular season, but we made a decision to go with a different group.
"For the most part the game was fine. But he handled it well. Not an easy decision to make and not easy for him, but he handled it like a great pro."
Yandle is expected to be out for Game 4 at Tampa Bay on Saturday (12:30 p.m. ET; CNBC, SN, TVAS2, BSSUN, BSFL). His streak of 979 regular-season and Stanley Cup Playoff games ended two behind Phil Kessel for the longest in NHL history. The Arizona Coyotes forward has an active streak of 981 (Nov. 3, 2009 to May 8, 2021) that includes 900 consecutive regular-season games.
Yandle has played 922 consecutive regular-season games, the second-longest streak in NHL history, behind Doug Jarvis (964). He had never missed a playoff game, playing 57 straight.
Yandle was minus-1 with two shots on goal and six shot attempts in 13:43 of ice time in Game 2, a 3-1 loss. His turnover near the red line led to Lightning forward Yanni Gourde's empty-net goal at 18:35 of the third period.
Yandle had two assists and played 16:10 in Game 1, a 5-4 loss.
Yandle scored 27 points (three goals, 24 assists) in 56 games in the regular season. He has scored 36 points (six goals, 30 assists) in the playoffs and 600 points (102 goals, 498 assists) in 1,032 regular-season games for the Coyotes, New York Rangers and Panthers since entering the NHL in 2006-07.
