Florida Panthers Notes: Barkov, Tkachuk Questionable for Thursday

FORT LAUDERDALE — Matthew Tkachuk and Sasha Barkov both missed Wednesay’s Florida Panthers practice with minor injuries.

Barkov skated by himself ahead of practice while Tkachuk did not skate altogether.

Tkachuk left Monday’s practice early with an apparent injury.

“I expect Barkov to play but we will need to get Tkachuk on the ice,” coach Paul Maurice said.

“He could be 100 percent fine, but because he didn’t skate today, I can’t give you a stronger answer.”

Maurice said both stars would be “fine” on Monday.

Evan Rodrigues, who missed Monday’s practice with a minor injury, returned to the ice for practice on Wednesday.

Sergei Bobrovsky also practiced on Wednesday after missing Monday’s practice with an illness.

With Dmitry Kulikov set to serve a two-game suspension starting on Thursday, Tobias Bjornfot manned his spot on the bottom pairing with Josh Mahura.

The Panthers have not made a call-up from AHL Charlotte to help fill Kulikov’s spot on the roster for the next two games.

Uvis Balinskis, who played 18 games early in the season with Aaron Ekblad and Brandon Montour out with injuries, remains an option for Florida to call up if needed.

”We’ll make a lineup decision tonight after 5 p.m. on what we’ll do with that,” Maurice said.

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ON DECK

NASHVILLE PREDATORS @ FLORIDA PANTHERS

• When: Thursday, 7:30 p.m.
• Where: Amerant Bank Arena, Sunrise 
• Streaming ONLY: ESPN+, Hulu
• Radio: WPOW 96.5 FM-2; WBZT 1230-AM (Palm Beach); WCTH 100.3-FM (Florida Keys); SiriusXM
• Panthers Radio Streaming: SiriusXM 932, NHL app
• Season Series (Florida Leads 1-0) — At Nashville: Panthers 4, Predators 1 (Jan. 22). At Florida: Thursday.
• Last Season: Nashville won 2-0
• All-time Regular Season Series: Florida leads 22-14-6, 3 ties
• Up Next for the Panthers: Saturday, March 23 at New York Rangers, 8 p.m. (ABC)