Aleksander Barkov Dominated in Return, Excited to be Back for Trip to Hometown

“It’s amazing,” Barkov said. “Those two games that we play there, I’ve been thinking about them all the time. I have been waiting for this day to travel there and go home.”

Florida Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov introduced himself back into the lineup with thunder.

The captain returned to the lineup from an eight-game absence on Monday and put up a two-point effort to help the Panthers defeat the Buffalo Sabres, 5-2, but his return meant much more than just that.

Barkov and the Panthers jetted off to Finland post game for his hometown of Tampere to participate in the NHL’s Global Series in Finland — and after weeks of working to get back in the lineup, Barkov will be back for it.

“It’s amazing,” Barkov said. “Those two games that we play there, I’ve been thinking about them all the time ever since they got announced. I have been waiting for this day to travel there and go home again.”

Florida has participated in one of these before — a two-game set against in Helsinki in 2018 — but this one means even more to Barkov.

It is in his hometown — the one that basically shut the city down and sold out an arena to celebrate him a few months earlier when he brought the Stanley Cup back there with him. It is at the rink he grew up playing at for Tappara.

It’s Barkov City, and he’s ready to be the life of the party again.

“This is going to be even more special,” Barkov said. “It’s in my hometown at the rink where my team plays. It’s going to be a one-of-a-kind experience, for sure.”

Barkov’s hometown fans are going to be getting him back at the height of his powers, or at least it looked that way on Monday night.

He got his night started with a wicked no-look, backhand pass to set Sam Reinhart up in the slot to put the Panthers up 2-0. He then finished it off with a ripper of a wrist shot from deep that gave Florida a three-goal cushion they never let go of.

“It was great,” Barkov said. “When you miss a long time, maybe sometimes your game is a little off and some reads here and there are kinda hard, but playing with really good players has helped me out a lot. I just had to stay in the middle and wait for the puck to come on my stick.”

The rest of the team really did not miss a beat — whether it was in the eight games without him or upon his return.

Following a 5-2 loss to these same Sabres, the Panthers were 5-1-1 in their next seven games and they picked up right where they left off upon Barkov’s return.

All three of their top forward lines and both of their power play units scored a goal and their depth looks as dangerous as ever.

“It was amazing to see,” Barkov said. “I obviously hate watching games when I’m not playing, but the guys played so well and they were feeling comfortable playing in those situations where you’re either down, up or having a bad game. They just feel comfortable every single night and they battled so hard for each other. It was fun to watch.”