Barkov Out Against Rangers, Could Return to Panthers Soon

The Florida Panthers will again be without captain Sasha Barkov when they visit the New York Rangers tonight at Madison Square Garden in a rematch of the 2024 Eastern Conference finals.

Barkov will miss his seventh straight game tonight after being hurt Oct. 10 at the end of Florida’s loss in Ottawa.

Coach Paul Maurice told reporters that Barkov could be back as early as Saturday’s game against the Islanders at Belmont Park.

Florida also plays in Buffalo on Monday night.

“We are not holding him out,’’ Maurice said. “That’s the doctor’s call and Sasha’s call. If he can get in Saturday, he will play Saturday. … He wants to play Saturday if he could.”

Maurice has said that Barkov should be ready to play when the Panthers take on the Dallas Stars in his hometown of Tampere, Finland, on Nov. 1-2.

On Thursday, Maurice stressed the Panthers are not going to rush Barkov just so he can play in Finland.

“He is well within the window we thought it would be,’’ Maurice said. “We wouldn’t let him play in Finland if he wasn’t right.”

Jonah Gadjovich, who worked out with Barkov at MSG following the morning  skate, will miss his third straight game with back spasms.

— The starting goalies: Sergei Bobrovsky gets a second shot at his 400th win tonight against Igor Shesterkin.

ON DECK: GAME NO. 9

FLORIDA PANTHERS AT NEW YORK RANGERS

• When: Thursday, 7 p.m.
• Where: Madison Square Garden, New York
• Local TV: Scripps Sports — WSFL 39 (Miami/Fort Lauderdale); WHDT 9 (West Palm); LAFF 36.3 (Naples/Fort Myers)
• Streaming: Panthers+; 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
• Betting Odds — Rangers Favored: Money Line (-150); Puck line (-1.5, +150); Over/Under 5.5 (-120/+100)
• Last Season vs. Rangers — Regular Season: Panthers won 2-1; Eastern Conference Finals: Panthers won 4-2. 
• This Season — At Florida: Dec 30; April 14. At MSG: Thursday.
• All-time Regular Season Series: Rangers lead 61-34-8, 6 ties
• Postseason History: Rangers won 4-1 (1997, 1st round); Panthers won 4-2 (2024 ECF)
• Up Next for the Panthers: Saturday at New York Islanders, 7:30 p.m.

PROJECTED FLORIDA PANTHERS (4-3-1) LINES

13 Eetu Luostarinen // 15 Anton Lundell // 13 Sam Reinhart

23 Carter Verhaeghe// 9 Sam Bennett // 19 Matthew Tkachuk

17 Evan Rodrigues // 70 Jesper Boqvist // 25 Mackie Samoskevich

10 AJ Greer // 36 Patrick Giles // 26 Uvis Balinskis

42 Gus Forsling // 5 Aaron Ekblad

77 Niko Mikkola // 7 Dmitry Kulikov

34 Adam Boqvist // 88 Nate Schmidt

72 Sergei Bobrovsky

30 Spencer Knight

Scratched: None

Injured: Sasha Barkov (LBI), Jonah Gadjovich (back), Tomas Nosek (LTIR-UBI), Justin Sourdif (UBI)

PROJECTED NEW YORK RANGERS (5-0-1) LINES

20 Chris Kreider // 93 Mika Zibanejad // 91 Reilly Smith

10 Artemi Panarin // 16 Vincent Trocheck // 13 Alexis Lafreniere

50 Will Cuylle // 72 Filip Chytil // 24 Kaapo Kakko

84 Adam Edstrom // 39 Sam Carrick // 22 Jonny Brodzinski

79 K’Andre Miller // 23 Adam Fox

4 Braden Schneider // 8 Jacob Trouba

55 Ryan Lindgren // 90 Victor Mancini

31 Igor Shesterkin

32 Jonathan Quick

Scratched: Matt Rempe, Chad Ruhwedel, Zac Jones

Injured: Jimmy Vesey (lower body)

New York Rangers Lines Courtesy NHL.com