Florida Panthers: Lines, Updates, Preview for Round 1, Game 4 vs. Tampa Bay Lightning
The Florida Panthers will make a change to their forward group as they look to take a 3-1 series lead over the Tampa Bay Lightning.
FORT LAUDERDALE — The Florida Panthers are making an adjustment to their forward group as their first-round series against the Tampa Bay Lightning has continued to get nasty.
A.J. Greer will be replacing Mackie Samoskevich to bring a more physical presence to the fourth line as the Panthers look to bounce back from a 5-1 Game 3 loss and protect their 2-1 series lead.
“His game, his personality, he’s got lots of speed and he forechecks hard,” coach Paul Maurice said when asked what Greer brings to the lineup.
“During the regular season, we found that he gets to the net at the right times, he’s got a great shot, and I think for him the speed of the playoff game will speed the mental part of the game up. He’s just going to shoot that puck, he’s not going to delay on anything that he does. So, he’s earned it. He’s worked butt off every single day, every single game, all year.”
Greer will be making his NHL playoff debut after putting up career highs in goals (six), points (17) and hits (222) in his first season with the Panthers. The 28-year-old forward is looking to help set the tone physically, as he has done throughout the regular season.
“I’m super excited,” Greer said. “I’m happy to join the group and be a part of it. I can’t wait to play in front of our fans.
“As far as my part injecting something into a series, it’s just how I play during the regular season. That’s up and down, really fast hockey. Physical, responsible and getting the momentum on our side. That’s the biggest thing. It’s been kind of a momentum game and there’s a lot of nerves inside the building, so my job is to manage that and play in all three zones, but influence the play and get the puck in the offensive zone, get to the net, get some whistles and set our team up so the next line is going in a good position.”
Samoskevich, 22, started the postseason on a hot note — picking up an assist on Florida’s first goal of the postseason four minutes into Game 1, lobbing a saucer pass to Sam Bennett in the slot — but his play has tapered off a bit.
Maurice opted to demote him to the fourth line in Game 3 before making the change in Game 4, but he believes he will get a chance to make an impact further down the line.
“He’s fine,” Maurice said. “He is learning his way through his first run in the playoffs. I didn’t mind his first game, didn’t love the next one and he kind of fell into that tonight. That’s all part of it. If you go back a couple years ago, Anton Lundell got scratched for some games too, but he turned out to be OK.”
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 locally on Scripps Sports and the Panthers Plus app. It will be broadcasted nationally on ESPN.
For more information on how to catch Panthers games this season, 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 the palmbeachpost.com/sports
FLORIDA PANTHERS PROJECTED LINEUP
Presented by William Raveis Real Estate
Carter Verhaeghe — Aleksander Barkov — Sam Reinhart
Evan Rodrigues — Sam Bennett — Matthew Tkachuk
Eetu Luostarinen — Anton Lundell — Brad Marchand
A.J. Greer — Nico Sturm — Jesper Boqvist
Gustav Forsling — Aaron Ekblad
Niko Mikkola — Seth Jones
Nate Schmidt — Dmitry Kulikov
Sergei Bobrovsky
Vitek Vanecek
Scratched: Jaycob Megna, Mackie Samoskevich, Tomas Nosek, Jonah Gadjovich, Uvis Balsinkis
TAMPA BAY LIGHTNING PROJECTED LINEUP
Jake Guentzel — Brayden Point — Nikita Kucherov
Brandon Hagel — Anthony Cirelli — Gage Goncalves
Yanni Gourde — Nick Paul — Conor Geekie
Zemgus Girgensons — Luke Glendenning
Victor Hedman — J.J. Moser
Ryan McDonagh — Erik Cernak
Nick Perbix — Emil Lilleberg — Darren Raddysh
Andrei Vasilevskiy
Jonas Johansson
(Lines are projected and subject to change)
Suspended:
Injured: Oliver Bjorkstrand
*Opposing team lines subject to change.