GameDay No. 48: Lines, Betting Odds for Wild at Panthers

The Florida Panthers will have Alex Lyon in net tonight when the Minnesota Wild visit Sunrise.

Although Sergei Bobrovsky was on the ice following the morning skate, coach Paul Maurice said Florida’s starting goalie would not play tonight — and will probably miss the back-to-back road set against the Rangers and Penguins next week as well.

”We were concerned when we took him out (Thursday) because you never know,’’ Maurice said. “But it is way better than we thought it would be. It is possible he’s back for the weekend. We don’t think we will see him for the next three.”

Mack Guzda has been called up from AHL Charlotte to back up Lyon at least for tonight.

Spencer Knight is expected to start for the Checkers today against the Cleveland Monsters (Blue Jackets) at 4 and may play again on Sunday.

The Panthers hope to have Knight feeling good enough to meet them in New York for Monday’s game.

(*) The Checkers will be wearing special jerseys today and they are up for auction — Knight included.

”Spence will play for Charlotte today, get a full 60 minutes because it has been a long time,” Maurice said after the morning skate. “He may play tomorrow but it depends on his workload today. If he feels good, he will meet us in New York.”

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Florida is also without veteran center Eric Staal who sustained a concussion on a hit away from the puck by Montreal defenseman Mike Matheson.

Staal has been placed on IR and will miss the next few games although Maurice is hopeful he could return next Saturday against the visiting Los Angeles Kings.

”He is in the protocol, but early returns are very good,’’ Maurice said. “You never know with these kinds of things, but I feel pretty confident he could come back for the weekend as well.”

With Staal out, Chris Tierney is back in the lineup and will center Ryan Lomberg and Givani Smith on the fourth line.

Grigori Denisenko remains on the third line with Eetu Luostarinen and Nick Cousins.

PANTHERS ON DECK

MINNESOTA WILD AT FLORIDA PANTHERS 

• When: Saturday, 6 p.m.
• Where: FLA Live Arena, Sunrise
• TV/Streaming: Bally Sports Florida, ESPN+
• Radio: WPOW 96.5-FM2; WBZT 1230-AM (Palm Beach); WCTH 100.3-FM (Florida Keys); SiriusXM
• Panthers Radio Streaming: SiriusXM 932
• DraftKings Odds — Florida favored: MoneyLine (-115); Puck line (-1.5, +195); Over/Under 6.5 (-125/+105)
• Last season: Florida won 2-0
• All-time regular season series: Minnesota leads 18-8-2, 1 tie
• Up Next for the Panthers: Monday at New York Rangers, 7 p.m.

PROJECTED FLORIDA PANTHERS LINEUP

15 Anton Lundell // 16 Sasha Barkov // 13 Sam Reinhart

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

14 Grigori Denisenko // 27 Eetu Luostarinen // 21 Nick Cousins

94 Ryan Lomberg // 71 Chris Tierney // 54 Givani Smith

42 Gus Forsling // 5 Aaron Ekblad

18 Marc Staal // 62 Brandon Montour

28 Josh Mahura // 7 Radko Gudas

34 Alex Lyon

29 Mack Guzda

Injured: Anthony Duclair (LTIR-Achilles), Patric Hornqvist (LTIR-concussion), Spencer Knight (AHL Conditioning-undisclosed), Eric Staal (IR-concussion), Sergei Bobrovsky (LBI)

Scratched: Casey Fitzgerald, Colin White

PROJECTED MINNESOTA WILD LINEUP

97 Kirill Kaprizov // 13 Sam Steel // 36 Mats Zuccarello

12 Matt Boldy // 89 Frederick Gaudreau // 38 Ryan Hartman

17 Marcus Foligno // 14 Joel Eriksson Ek // 18 Jordan Greenway

21 Brandon Duhaime // 26 Connor Dewar // 75 Ryan Reeves

5 Jacob Middleton // 46 Jared Spurgeon

25 Jonas Brodin // 33 Alex Gologoski

4 Jon Merrill // 2 Calen Addison

32 Filip Gustavsson

29 Marc-Andre Fleury