Listed as day to day, Barkov's injury occurred during a faceoff with Devils captain Nico Hischier in the waning seconds of the first period of Saturday's 4-2 win in New Jersey. On the play, Hischier's stick made contact with Barkov's left knee as the two players battled for the puck.
"A real positive for us," Maurice said of Barkov's diagnosis. "That could've been a real long-term injury."
In terms of other injury news, Maurice said that Anton Lundell, who's been out since Dec. 1 due to an upper-body injury, participated in this morning's skate in no-contact jersey and is trending toward a return. Also healing up, Radko Gudas (upper body) will be a game-time decision against the Bruins.
Missing a little over a week with an upper-body injury suffered on Dec. 13, Colin White, who's registered five goals and seven assists in 29 games, will get back in the lineup and skate alongside Matthew Tkachuk and Sam Bennett on the second line in his hometown of Boston.
Filling in for Barkov, Eetu Luostarinen will center Florida's top line.
Leading the team with a 61.54 CF% against the Devils, the Panthers led 16-10 in shot attempts when Luostarinen was deployed on the ice at 5-on-5 in New Jersey, per NaturalStatTrick.com.
"He's so versatile," Panthers forward Carter Verhaeghe said of Luostarinen, who's scored seven goals in 32 games. "I love playing with him. He's such a good player. Losing Barky definitely hurts, but [Luostarinen] has done such a good job this year. He's made a lot of good leaps."
Luostarinen also notched an assist against the Devils, while Sam Reinhart scored a pair of goals, and Gustav Forsling and Carter Verhaeghe each touched the twine once. Making his sixth straight start, Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 30 of 32 shots to stifle New Jersey's attack.
With the win, Florida improved to 15-13-4.
"We kept going no matter what," Forsling said. "I think we had a real good team effort."
Returning to the crease after missing some time due to a non-COVID illness, Spencer Knight is expected to start against the Bruins. His first game since Dec. 6, the 21-year-old goaltender has posted an 8-4-3 record with a 2.64 goals-against average and .919 save percentage in 2022-23.
In their last head-to-head matchup, Knight made 37 saves to backstop the Panthers to a 5-2 win over the Bruins at FLA Live Arena on Nov. 23. Providing all the support that Knight would need on offense, Barkov and Aaron Ekblad each recorded a goal and two assists against Boston.
Sitting atop the Atlantic Division at 24-4-2, the Bruins enter tonight's matchup fresh off a 4-2 win over the Columbus Blue Jackets on Saturday. Against the Blue Jackets, David Pastrnak, David Krejci, Taylor Hall and Tomas Nosek scored, while Jeremy Swayman made 31 saves in net.
On fire, Pastrnak leads Boston in goals (20), assists (22) and points (42). Farther down the team's leaderboard, six other players have crossed the 20-point mark: Hall (25), Jake DeBrusk (23), Brad Marchand (23), Krejci (23), Patrice Bergeron (22) and Hampus Lindholm (21).
Leading the NHL with 17 wins, Linus Ullmark owns a .938 save percentage.
"They're an awesome team," Verhaeghe said of the Bruins, who've gone 16-0-2 at home. "They've done so well this year. It's going to be a good challenge for us. We're going to take it game by game and just have fun with it here. It's a big challenge, but these guys in here are up to it."
