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)