The center began warmups at the Blackhawks on Tuesday but left the ice early and was scratched prior to a 3-2 loss.
"He's doing better today. We're still ruling him out tomorrow," Panthers coach Joel Quenneville said after practice Wednesday. "We don't think he's (out) long term. We'll see how he progresses over the next couple of days."
Barkov, the Florida captain, leads the Panthers with 37 points (13 goals, 24 assists) in 31 games this season and is first among their forwards in ice time per game (21:13). He scored nine points (three goals, six assists) in four games against the Blackhawks this season.
"Well everybody's going to be picking up more ice time, more quality ice time and the responsibilities don't change," Quenneville said. "We don't want you to be someone you're not. you want to play your game the right way is what we try to re-enforce. Basically, more simplicity than anything and let's go about it in a real hard way and let's take pride in not being scored on and technically, defensively, get it right."
Florida allowed two first-period goals and trailed 3-0 in the second period on Tuesday. Forward Noel Acciari had two assists moving up in the lineup. He played a season-high 19:48.
"Injuries happen, you never know when it's going to happen, but you just have to be ready to adjust," Acciari said after the game. "We definitely missed him out there, but we're hoping he'll be ready for game two. I think we'll be ready."
NHL.com staff writer Tracey Myers contributed to this report
