The Florida Panthers, already missing three key players, will be without a fourth as they face the Toronto Maple Leafs in a crucial divisional matchup. Captain Aleksander Barkov, who briefly left Florida’s overtime loss to the Montreal Canadiens in the second period, will not play Wednesday at Scotiabank Arena due to an upper-body injury. Barkov, the team’s top-line center, has recorded 67 points (19 goals, 48 assists) in 64 games and plays a vital role on both the power play and penalty kill. He also ranks second among Panthers forwards in average ice time per game (20:25).
Along with Barkov’s absence, Florida remains without two key defensemen—Aaron Ekblad (suspension) and Dmitry Kulikov (upper-body injury)—as well as star winger Matthew Tkachuk (lower-body injury). Additionally, fourth-line center Nico Sturm is unavailable after a collision with teammate AJ Greer in Tuesday’s game against Montreal.
Based on pregame line rushes, Florida’s projected forward lines are:
- Eetu Luostarinen – Anton Lundell – Sam Reinhart
- Carter Verhaeghe – Sam Bennett – Brad Marchand
- Mackie Samoskevich – Evan Rodrigues – Jesper Boqvist
- AJ Greer – Tomas Nosek – Jonah Gadjovich
The Panthers enter the matchup two points behind Toronto for first place in the Atlantic Division, with eight games remaining in the regular season.
