SUNRISE, Fla. – The Florida Panthers will take the ice without their captain when they host the Detroit Red Wings for a divisional battle at Amerant Bank Arena on Wednesday.
Taking his last shift with roughly five minutes to go in the third period of Monday’s 5-4 overtime loss to the Ducks, Aleksander Barkov is currently dealing with a lower-body injury.
Given their long-term goal, the Panthers won’t take any chances with their superstar center.
"We want it to completely heal because it's not an issue,” Panthers head coach Paul Maurice said. “If he's at 95% for the Minnesota game [on Friday], he won't go in that one either. We've got to get this back to 100% because of the way he plays, but we don't think it'll take long to do that."
When asked about the severity of the injury, Maurice reaffirmed it’s not serious.
"Tighten is a fair word,” he said. “There's no strains, pulls or anything sinister. We caught it early enough and we think this is very short term."
In second place in the Atlantic Division at 27-13-3, the Panthers have dropped each of their last two games after stringing together a season-long, nine-game winning streak.
While the Panthers played well enough to win in their 4-1 loss to the New Jersey Devils on Saturday, players weren’t happy with their performance against Anaheim last game.
Leading 2-0 on goals from Sam Bennett and Sam Reinhart in the first period, the Panthers uncharacteristically opened up their game a bit too much after that as the action soon turned into a run-and-gun affair with the Ducks feeding off the chaos.
Eventually taking a 4-2 lead after Bennett struck again in the second period, Jakob Silfverberg and Troy Terry responded for the Ducks to make it 4-4 and get the game to overtime where Alex Killorn lit the lamp at the 48-second mark to win it for Anaheim.
The loss marked just the third time Florida has lost this season when scoring first.
“I actually think the Jersey one was better than the other one,” Panthers forward Matthew Tkachuk said. “The last game we gave them too much off the rush and weren’t hitting at all. We just gave up way too many odd-man [rushes].”
Netting a shorthanded goal in the loss to Anaheim, Sam Reinhart continued his stellar season by becoming the first player in NHL history to score a goal on special teams in seven straight games. Prior to that game, he’d scored on the power play in six straight.
Leading the Panthers with 32 goals – just one shy of matching his career high of 33 – Reinhart’s seven-game goal streak is also the longest in the NHL this season and is tied with Hall of Famer Pavel Bure (2000-01) for the longest such streak ever by a Panther.
Set to join Reinhart at the 2024 NHL All-Star Game, Sergei Bobrovsky will get the nod in net for the Panthers after backing up against the Ducks. Owning a 21-10-1 record, the veteran netminder has gone 7-1-0 with a .917 save percentage over his last eight appearances.
In the hunt in the Eastern Conference, the Red Wings sit at 22-16-5 and have won five of their last six games. In their last outing, they pulled off a stunner at Toronto, scoring three goals in the third period to secure a 4-2 win against the Maple Leafs on Sunday.
Despite picking up the win, the Red Wings lost Patrick Kane to a lower-body injury at 3:21 of the first period. Kane, who inked a one-year deal with Detroit on Nov. 29, has logged 16 points (seven goals, nine assists) this season.
On Tuesday, Detroit head coach Derek Lalonde ruled Kane out for tonight’s game.
Alex DeBrincat leads the Red Wings in scoring with 40 points (17 goals, 23 assists), while Dylan Larkin is second with 38 points (17 goals, 21 assists). Off to a great start in his third NHL season, Lucas Raymond has recorded 34 points (12 goals, 22 assists).
While James Reimer got the start against Toronto, the Red Wings have been leaning a lot on former Panthers goaltender Alex Lyon a lot as of late. Starting seven of the last eight games, the “Lyon King” has gone 9-4-1 with a .922 save percentage this season.
Per NHL.com’s George Richards, Lyon is expected to start against Florida.
Helping the Panthers kickstart their run to the Stanley Cup Final and get into the playoffs by just one point, Lyon, who began as the team’s third-string goaltender, stepped up when Bobrovsky was injured and went on a 6-2-1 run to end the regular season.
“He was definitely the most important reason why we were able to get into the playoffs with the run he went on after Bob went down late in the season,” Tkachuk said of Lyon, who also backstopped the Panthers to a win in Round 1 at Boston. “He came in and just kind of stole the show and led us to the playoffs. It’ll be cool to see him in the net. It’s well-earned that he got this opportunity with Detroit after what he did for us last year.”
Facing off for the second time this season, the Panthers kept the Red Wings off the board in a 2-0 win at Little Caesars Arena on Nov. 2. Steven Lorentz and Anton Lundell had the goals for Florida, while Bobrovsky turned aside all 22 shots he faced in net.
Overall, Florida has won 10 straight games against Detroit since 2020-21.
Looking to get back on track, expect the Cats to come out hot tonight.
“It’s one we kind of have to have right now with losing the last two,” Tkachuk said.
PREGAME QUOTES
“I just saw it for the first time recently. I’ve never had a bobblehead before. This is a first-time thing for me. It’s pretty cool. You grow up and see them around. They’re pretty fun to play around with and it’s cool to see that I’m one.” – Matthew Tkachuk on his bobblehead night
“He was efficient and he was confident and he was dialed in and wired. He’d put the work in to be good. He was a really important piece to all of it and I’m happy for Alex that it ended up with a real opportunity.” – Paul Maurice on Alex Lyon’s success with the Panthers last season
FIVE CATS STATS
- The Panthers have scored a power-play goal in nine consecutive games.
- Matthew Tkachuk enters tonight’s matchup on a nine-game point streak.
- Niko Mikkola leads the Panthers in blocked shots (72) and hits (77).
- Sam Reinhart is one point away from his 500th point in the NHL.
- Sergei Bobrovsky has gone 25-6-1 in his career against the Red Wings.
PROJECTED LINEUP (SUBJECT TO CHANGE)
Forwards
Eetu Luostarinen – Anton Lundell – Sam Reinhart
Carter Verhaeghe – Sam Bennett – Matthew Tkachuk
Evan Rodrigues – Kevin Stenlund – Ryan Lomberg
Jonah Gadjovich – Steven Lorentz – Will Lockwood
Defensemen
Gustav Forsling – Aaron Ekblad
Niko Mikkola – Brandon Montour
Oliver Ekman-Larsson – Dmitry Kulikov
Goaltenders
Sergei Bobrovsky
Anthony Stolarz
RECENT TRANSACTIONS
- Jan. 10: F Mackie Samoskevich loaned to Charlotte (AHL)
- Jan. 5: F Mackie Samoskevich recalled from Charlotte (AHL)
- Jan. 3: D Uvis Balinskis signed to a two-year contract extension
HOW TO WATCH
When: Wednesday, Jan. 17 at 7 p.m. ET
Where: Amerant Bank Arena – Sunrise, FL
TV & Streaming: Bally Sports Florida, Bally Sports+, TNT
Radio: 96.5 WPOW-FM HD-2 (Dade/Broward); 1230 WBZT (Palm Beach); 100.3 WCTH (Florida Keys); 101.7 WCZR (Treasure Coast); SiriusXM Channel 219 / App & Streaming 932; Panthers App
Tickets: Here
