Florida Panthers: Lines, Updates, Preview for Round 2, Game 5vs. Toronto Maple Leafs
Evan Rodrigues will miss Game 5 with an injury as the Florida Panthers look to take a game in Toronto for the first time this series.
The Florida Panthers will be without Evan Rodrigues in Wednesday night’s pivotal Game 5 against the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Jesper Boqvist will draw into the lineup on the top line next to Aleksander Barkov and Sam Reinhart as Florida looks to go up a game for the first time this series. The second-round playoff matchup is knotted up at 2-2 after the Panthers won two straight games at home.
Boqvist had a career-high 12 goals and 23 points in 78 regular season games in his first season with the Panthers. He started the postseason on the fourth line after going the final 31 games of the regular season without scoring a goal and the last 17 games of the regular season without registering a point.
“[He brings] a lot of skill, a lot of speed like we’ve seen throughout this whole year,” Barkov said. “Playing against him for years, you see that skill and speed, and now you see it so close. Every practice, every game, he has a lot of skill."
Per coach Paul Maurice — via team reporter Jameson Olive — Boqvist will start on the top line, but could move around the line-up throughout the game, as he has done all season.
Meanwhile, Rodrigues is listed as “day-to-day” and could still be a participant in Friday night’s Game 6 back in Sunrise.
“He just can’t play today,” Maurice said. “And we’ll list him as day-to-day.”
THE NEWS
Sergei Bobrovsky will start in net for the Panthers tonight.
Tonight’s game will start at 7:00 p.m. EST and will be broadcasted nationally on ESPN.
Catch the Florida Panthers pre-game show on Scripps Sports with Jessica Blaylock, Ed Jovanovski, Randy Moller and Katie Engleson 30 minutes before puck drop.
For more information on how to find Scripps Sports, visit nhl.com/panthers/info/how-to-watch.
PROGRAMMING NOTE: Matt Licthenstadter will be recording subscriber-exclusive podcast episodes following the conclusion of each playoff game. For Colby’s postgame stories right after the buzzer, check out palmbeachpost.com/sports
FLORIDA PANTHERS PROJECTED LINEUP
Presented by William Raveis Real Estate
Jesper Boqvist — Aleksander Barkov — Sam Reinhart
Carter Verhaeghe — Sam Bennett — Matthew Tkachuk
Eetu Luostarinen — Anton Lundell — Brad Marchand
A.J. Greer — Tomas Nosek — Jonah Gadjovich
Gustav Forsling — Aaron Ekblad
Niko Mikkola — Seth Jones
Nate Schmidt — Dmitry Kulikov
Sergei Bobrovsky
Vitek Vanecek
Scratched: Jaycob Megna, Mackie Samoskevich, Nico Sturm, Uvis Balinskis
Injured: Evan Rodrigues
TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS PROJECTED LINEUP
Matthew Knies — Auston Matthews — Mitch Marner
Max Pacioretty — John Tavares — William Nylander
Bobby McMann — Max Domi — Pontus Holmberg
Steven Lorentz — Scott Laughton — Calle Jarnkrok
Jake McCabe — Chris Tanev
Morgan Reilly — Brandon Carlo
Simon Benoit — Oliver Ekman-Larsson
Joseph Woll
Matt Murray
Injured: Jani Hakanpaa (IR), David Kampf (DTD), Anthony Stolarz
Scratched: Dennis Hildeby, Dakota Mermis, Phil Myers, Nick Robertson
Maple Leafs Lines Courtesy of DailyFaceOff.com
*Opposing team lines subject to change.