With Barkov and Forsling back on the ice, Panthers try to make progress at top of East
The Panthers entered Tuesday night’s home game against Boston hoping to officially secure their spot in the Stanley Cup playoffs.
The Panthers expected to have a pair of needed reinforcements back in the lineup to face the Bruins, the team they are battling for the top spot in the Atlantic Division.
Coach Paul Maurice said both center Aleksander Barkov and defenseman Gustav Forsling would return to the lineup Tuesday.
Barkov, Florida’s captain and top-line center, missed all three games last week with a lower
For results of Bruins-Panthers game, go to
body injury and is an integral part in every aspect of the Panthers’ game. He is their top two-way forward, plays on the top power-play unit and kills penalties.
Forsling, who led the NHL in plus-minus (plus-46) entering Tuesday’s play, sat out both games of Florida’s backto-back Saturday and Sunday with an illness.
Forsling was to return to his usual spot on Florida’s top defense pairing alongside Oliver EkmanLarsson.
As for Barkov, he was slated to center wingers Evan Rodrigues and Vladimir
Tarasenko on Tuesday.
That arrangement lets Maurice keep intact his other two primary forward lines — Carter Verhaeghe, Sam Bennett and Matthew Tkachuk on Line 2, and Eetu Luostarinen, Anton Lundell and Sam Reinhart on Line 3. The fourth line is Kevin Stenlund centering Nick Cousins and Steven Lorentz.
One other injury notable: Defenseman Aaron Ekblad, sidelined with a lower-body injury, was an active participant at morning skate but wasn’t cleared for game action. Maurice listed him as “day to day” but said the team is going to be “real careful” with him down the stretch of the regular season to make sure he’s ready for the playoffs.
“We’re gonna hold him longer than he wants us to hold him,” Maurice said. “He’s gonna have to get through two or three practices with some bumping and grinding.”
TIGHT RACES
The Panthers (46-20-5), Bruins (41-16-15) and Carolina Hurricanes (4520-7) all entered Tuesday’s games with 97 points, second in the Eastern Conference behind the Metropolitan-leading New York Rangers (98 points at 47-20-4). Florida, however, has played one fewer game than Boston and Carolina.
PANTHERS SCENARIOS
According to the NHL, the Panthers had two routes to clinch a playoff spot Tuesday...
1. Defeat the Bruins in any fashion with any of the following occurring:
a. Detroit loses to Washington in any fashion
b. Philadelphia loses to the New York Rangers in regulation
c. The Flyers lose to the Rangers in overtime or shootou and the Capitals lose to the Red Wings in regulation.
2. The Panthers also could clinch with one point (overtime loss or shootout loss) against the Bruins combined with a Red Wings loss to the Capitals in regulation.
Jordan McPherson: 305-376-2129, @J_McPherson1126
Florida Boston Toronto Tampa Bay Detroit Buffalo Ottawa Montreal Metropolitan
NY Rangers Carolina Philadelphia Washington NY Islanders New Jersey Pittsburgh Columbus
Central
Colorado Dallas Winnipeg Nashville St. Louis Minnesota Arizona Chicago Pacific
Vancouver Edmonton Los Angeles Vegas Calgary Seattle Anaheim San Jose
71 46 20 5 97 231 173 72 41 16 15 97 241 200 70 40 21 9 89 258 220 71 39 25 7 85 250 235 71 36 29 6 78 242 236 72 34 33 5 73 216 216 70 30 36 4 64 225 249 70 26 32 12 64 194 244 GP W L OT Pts GF GA
71 47 20 4 72 45 20 7 72 36 27 9 70 35 26 9 71 30 26 15 72 35 33 4 70 30 30 10 71 23 36 12
98 240 194 97 247 195 81 212 220 79 194 221 75 212 239 74 235 244 70 205 213 58 205 260
71 46 20 5 97 269 212 72 44 19 9 97 264 216 71 44 22 5 93 218 173 71 42 25 4 88 231 206 72 38 30 4 80 208 217 71 34 28 9 77 220 230 71 29 37 5 63 207 234 71 20 46 5 45 157 256 GP W LOT Pts GF GA
72 45 19 8 69 42 23 4 71 38 22 11 71 39 25 7 70 33 32 5 70 28 29 13 71 24 43 4 70 16 46 8
98 251 192 88 248 201 87 223 185 85 228 209 71 216 228 69 185 206 52 177 255 40 155 285
NOTE: Two points for a win, one point for overtime loss.
Top three teams in each division and two wild cards per conference advance to playoffs.
WEDNESDAY
Ottawa at Buffalo, 7
Boston at Tampa Bay, 7:30
TUESDAY
Boston at Florida
Philadelphia at NY Rangers
Carolina at Pittsburgh
Detroit at Washington
New Jersey at Toronto
Vegas at Nashville
Edmonton at Winnipeg
Calgary at Chicago
Montreal at Colorado
Columbus at Arizona
Anaheim at Seattle
Dallas at San Jose
MONDAY
Vegas 2, St. Louis 1 (OT)
Los Angeles 3, Vancouver 2