Florida Panthers Resting Veteran Defenseman Tonight Vs. Senators

SUNRISE — The Florida Panthers will not have Oliver Ekman-Larsson in the lineup tonight when they play host to the Ottawa Senators.

This will be the first game Ekman-Larsson has missed this season.

Coach Paul Maurice said he is going to rest OEL tonight.

Uvis Balinskis, who was recalled from AHL Charlotte when the Panthers pulled Aaron Ekblad, will play in his place.

Balinskis signed a two-year contract extension with Florida earlier this season and is expected to be part of the normal rotation next season.

Maurice said Monday that he did not expect Ekblad or Carter Verhaeghe to play before the start of the playoffs.

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“At some point here, maybe this year or maybe early next year, Uvis is going to get in the lineup and never come out,’’ Maurice said.

“He’s an NHL defenseman. I have faith in that. I also think he’s made great progress in the American League. He came back and in this last little tour has been very, very good for us. We just have a lot of depth. This is management of depth for us.”

The Panthers will be rolling out basically the same lineup it has used the past few games — including Thursday’s 6-0 win in Ottawa.

The starting goalies will be a rematch of Thursday: Sergei Bobrovsky against Joonas Korpisalo, his former understudy in Columbus.

ON DECK

OTTAWA SENATORS @ FLORIDA PANTHERS

• When: Tuesday, 7 p.m.
• Where: Amerant Bank Arena, Sunrise
• TV/Streaming: Bally Sports Florida (ALT), ESPN+
• Radio: WPOW 96.5-FM2; WBZT 1230-AM (Palm Beach); WCTH 100.3-FM (Florida Keys); SiriusXM
• Panthers Radio Streaming: SiriusXM 932, NHL App
• Local Betting Odds — Panthers Favored: Money Line (-250); Puck line (-1.5, -105); Over/Under 6.5 (+105/-130)
• Last Season: Florida won 2-1
• This Season (Panthers Lead 3-0) — At Ottawa: Panthers 5, Senators 0 (Nov.27); Panthers 6, Senators 0 (April 2). At Florida: Panthers 3, Senators 2 OT (Feb. 20); Tuesday.
• All-time Regular Season Series: Ottawa leads 57-47-5, 3 ties
• Up Next for the Panthers: Thursday vs. Columbus, 7 p.m.

PROJECTED FLORIDA PANTHERS (48-24-6) LINES

10 Vladimir Tarasenko // 16 Sasha Barkov // 13 Sam Reinhart

21 Nick Cousins // 9 Sam Bennett // 19 Matthew Tkachuk

27 Eetu Luostarinen //15 Anton Lundell // 17 Evan Rodrigues

12 Jonah Gadjovich // 82 Kevin Stenlund // 94 Ryan Lomberg

42 Gus Forsling // 62 Brandon Montour

77 Niko Mikkola // 7 Dmitry Kulikov

28 Josh Mahura // 26 Uvis Balinskis

72 Sergei Bobrovsky

41 Anthony Stolarz

Scratched: Oliver Ekman-Larsson, Steven Lorentz, Kyle Okposo, Toby Bjornfot

Injured: Carter Verhaeghe (upper body), Aaron Ekblad (lower body)

PROJECTED OTTAWA SENATORS (34-39-4) LINES

7 Brady Tkachuk // 71 Ridly Greig // 28 Claude Giroux

81 Dominik Kubalik // 57 Shane Pinto // 19 Drake Batherson

14 Boris Katchouk // 21 Mathieu Joseph // 27 Parker Kelly

20 Bokondji Imama // 12 Mark Kastelic // 13 Jiri Smejkal

85 Jake Sanderson // 2 Artem Zub

72 Thomas Chabot // 26 Erik Brannstrom

6 Jakob Chychrun // 24 Jacob Bernard-Docker

70 Joonas Korpisalo

31 Anton Forsberg

Scratched: None

Injured: Matthew Highmore (upper body), Zack MacEwen (lower body), Angus Crookshank (lower body), Travis Hamonic (undisclosed), Tim Stutzle (upper body)

Ottawa Senators Lines Courtesy NHL.com