Barkov, Tkachuk Out as Cup Champion Panthers Visit Buffalo
The Florida Panthers will be without captain Aleksander Barkov as they head to Buffalo to take on the Sabres.
The Florida Panthers will be without Aleksander Barkov and Matthew Tkachuk as they head to Buffalo to take on the Sabres.
Coach Paul Maurice told reporters that Barkov will be out for 2-3 weeks with a lower-body injury and that he is “optimistic” that Barkov will return in time for the Panthers’ Global Series games in Barkov’s hometown in Tampere, Finland on Nov. 1 and 2, and possibly even sooner, per team reporter Jameson Olive.
Barkov sustained the injury after crashing into the boards feet-first while trying to prevent Tim Stützle from scoring an empty-net goal late in Florida’s 3-1 loss to the Ottawa Senators on Tuesday.
Tkachuk will miss Saturday night’s game with an illness and the Panthers will run with 11 forwards and seven defensemen in Buffalo.
Now, the Panthers will be without their two-time Selke Trophy-winning captain and superstar power forward as they look to avoid falling to 1-2-0 on the season.
Anton Lundell will get the call up to the top line to center Eetu Luostarinen and Sam Reinhart, a line Florida is very familiar with after running it heavily during the 2023 postseason en route to their first of back-to-back Stanley Cup Final berths.
The second line will look similar as it did towards the end of Tuesday’s game — with Carter Verhaeghe back on the left side of Sam Bennett and Evan Rodrigues — while Jesper Boqvist will move up to the third line to center a line with A.J. and Mackie Samoskevich.
Newly-called-up Patrick Giles will make his NHL debut on the fourth line alongside Jonah Gadjovich and Greer shuffling in.
Adam Boqvist will return to the lineup on Saturday night after missing Tuesday night’s game due to a puck that hit him in the face during the season opener against the Boston Bruins.
Boqvist appears to be back to running the top power play unit while sporting a face shield.
Spencer Knight will make his season debut between the pipes for the Panthers while ex-Florida prospect Devon Levi will man the crease for Buffalo.
PANTHERS PROJECTED LINEUP
Eetu Luostarinen — Anton Lundell — Sam Reinhart
Carter Verhaeghe — Sam Bennett — Evan Rodrigues
A.J. Greer — Jesper Boqvist — Mackie Samoskevich
Jonah Gadjovich — Patrick Giles
Gustav Forsling — Aaron Ekblad
Niko Mikkola — Dmitry Kulikov
Uvis Balinskis — Adam Boqvist/Nate Schmidt
Spencer Knight
Sergei Bobrovsky
Scratched: Matthew Tkachuk (illness)
Injured: Tomas Nosek (LTIR), Justin Sourdif (SOIR), Aleksander Barkov
(Panthers lines courtesy of Jameson Olive, FloridaPanthers.com)
SABRES PROJECTED LINEUP
Zach Benson — Tage Thompson — Alex Tuch
Jiri Kulich — Dylan Cozens — Jack Quinn
Jordan Greenway — Ryan McLeod — Jason Zucker
Beck Malenstyn — Peyton Krebs — Sam Laferty
Rasmus Dahlin — Henri Jokiharju
Bowen Byram — Owen Power
Mattias Samuelsson — Connor Clifton
Devon Levi
Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen
Injured: JJ Peterka, Nicolas Aube-Kubel
(Sabres Lines Courtesy of DailyFaceoff.com)
Yeah, I realized I forgot to update a few of those graphs at the bottom before I pushed this out when I pre-wrote this… Tkachuk’s absence came as a bit of a surprise.
My bad.