Florida Panthers: Lines, Updates, Preview for April 6 Game vs. Detroit Red Wings
The Florida Panthers give Sam Reinhart and Sam Bennett the day off after locking up a playoff spot on Saturday night.
After locking up a playoff spot on Saturday night, the Florida Panthers will be resting some key players on Sunday evening against the Detroit Red Wings.
Sam Bennett and Sam Reinhart, who both played some extra games this season while winning the 4 Nations Face-Off with Team Canada, will get the day off after Florida called up three players from AHL Charlotte.
Jesse Puljujarvi will make his Panthers debut after inking an NHL deal with the team last month while Rasmus Asplund will make his second appearance of the season.
Matt Kiersted is also expected to slot in for an undisclosed defenseman after earning his first call-up of the season.
With the Toronto Maple Leafs sitting six points ahead of them for the top spot in the Atlantic Division, the objective has become clear for the Panthers — get to the postseason healthy.
They are already missing Aleksander Barkov, Nico Sturm, Dmitry Kulikov and Matthew Tkachuk with injuries while Aaron Ekblad is serving a suspension that will last until Game 3 of the playoffs.
Barkov, Sturm and Kulikov are expected to be back sometime during the regular season while Tkachuk is expected to return early in the postseason.
Florida still has a lot to play for — they are two points behind Tampa Bay for home ice in what almost surely will be their first round match-up and Ottawa is only four points behind them for that third spot in the Atlantic — but the players who have been in the lineup have been heavily taxed and they have room to work around that now.
With Charlotte not playing again until April 12, the Panthers will have these three extra players on hand to give players rest where they need it.
THE NEWS
Vitek Vanecek will start in net for the Panthers tonight.
Tonight’s game will start at 5:30 p.m. EST and will be broadcasted on TNT. It can also be streamed on MAX.
For more information on how to catch Panthers games this season, visit nhl.com/panthers/info/how-to-watch.
FLORIDA PANTHERS PROJECTED LINEUP
Presented by William Raveis Real Estate
Eetu Luostarinen — Anton Lundell — Brad Marchand
Jesse Puljujarvi — Jesper Boqvist — Mackie Samoskevich
Carter Verhaeghe — Evan Rodrigues — Rasmus Asplund
A.J. Greer — Tomas Nosek — Jonah Gadjovich
Niko Mikkola — Seth Jones
Matt Kiersted — Nate Schmidt
Jaycob Megna — Uvis Balinskis
Vitek Vanecek
Sergei Bobrovsky
Scratched: Sam Bennett, Sam Reinhart, Gustav Forsling (projected)
Suspended: Aaron Ekblad
Injured: Matthew Tkachuk (LTIR), Dmitry Kulikov (upper-body injury), Aleksander Barkov (upper-body injury), Nico Sturm
DETROIT RED WINGS PROJECTED LINEUP
Alex DeBrincat — Dylan Larkin — Patrick Kane
Elmer Soderblom — Marco Kasper — Lucas Raymond
Jonatan Berggren — J.T. Compher — Vladimir Tarasenko
Michael Rasmussen — Tyler Motte — Craig Smith
Ben Chiarot — Moritz Seider
Simon Edvinsson — Jeff Petry
Albert Johansson — Justin Holl
Cam Talbot
Alex Lyon
(Lines via DailyFaceOff.com)
*Opposing team lines subject to change.