George Richards, FHN Publisher
On Wednesday, Joel Quenneville said he did not think the lower body injury sustained by Sasha Barkov was a big deal. Still, the Panthers captain is not going to play Thursday in Chicago against the Blackhawks.
“He’s better today,” Quenneville said Wednesday afternoon, “but he won’t play tomorrow. We will see how he progresses over the next couple of days.”
Barkov was a surprise scratch Tuesday night after he left warmups early with a yet-undisclosed lower-body injury.
Anyone wondering who was the Panthers most valuable player probably moved over to the Barkov side of the ledger after watching his team founder in the first period-plus without him.
Without Barkov, the Panthers were not very good.
At least early on.
While the team got things together as the game wore on, there was no doubt (if anyone wondered how good Barkov was before) how much the Panthers missed their captain.
Of course, the loss of Barkov came fast and quick.
He warmed up with the team prior to Tuesday’s game, then left; Florida had to hustle to fill some spots.
Noel Acciari filled in admirably and even fed Anton Stralman with a nice pass off some fancy stickwork for the first Florida goal of the game.
Sasha Barkov is the engine which drives the Panthers and he was — and will be — missed.
Now, the Panthers know what they’re up against.
Barkov being out of the lineup for the first time in over a year will not be a surprise.
And that could help the Panthers.
They know at least per Quenneville, Barkov is not playing in the second game of this two-game set in Chicago.
They should be ready to bounce back after losing their second consecutive game in regulation.
“Everyone is going to be picking up more ice time, more quality ice time,” Quenneville said.
“The responsibility does not change. We don’t want you to be someone you’re not. Play your game the right way is what we try and reinforce. More simplicity more than anything. Go at it the right way. Let’s get it right.”
The Panthers, by the way, were the last team in the NHL to lose back-to-back regulation games.
That shows how good, how consistent, this team has been so far.
But how will they play without Barkov for a second straight game?
The thought here is: Better.
And, they should be.
By losing Tuesday, the Panthers fell six points back of Tampa Bay for the top spot in the Central Division.
The Panthers are all but assured a playoff spot this year, but they would definitely help their cause by figuring out how to win without Barkov.
If the Panthers play Thursday as they did for the final 30-plus minutes on Tuesday, they should be fine.
But if they open the way they did without Barkov, the Panthers could be in some trouble.
Florida was down 2-0 after the end of the first Tuesday and 3-0 early in the second before losing 3-2.
It could have been worse at the start had it not been for Chris Driedger. The Panthers know this.
“That was a tough first period,’’ Quenneville told Joe Rose and Zach Krantz on 560-AM Wednesday morning.
“I think the news that Barky wasn’t going to be playing after warmup and I don’t know if it was the lines we put together or the shock value but it was one of those periods that was ugly.
“We worked ourselves back from 3-0 and had a chance to tie it up at the end of that game. We played hard enough in the last two periods but we didn’t help ourselves.’’
BOB IS BACK
Quenneville also told Rose and Krantz that Sergei Bobrovsky would be back in net Thursday after Driedger started Tuesday and made 29 saves in the loss.
It should be noted that Driedger played very well in the loss, keeping the Panthers in a game — at least early — they should not have been.
Florida will stay in Chicago following Thursday’s game and fly to Dallas on Friday.
The Panthers have back-to-back games against the Stars on Saturday and Sunday.
Florida Panthers at Chicago Blackhawks
PROJECTED FLORIDA PANTHERS LINES
FLORIDA FORWARDS
11 Jonathan Huberdeau — 55 Noel Acciari — 23 Carter Verhaeghe
77 Frank Vatrano — 21 Alex Wennberg — 70 Patric Hornqvist
91 Anthony Duclair — 27 Eetu Luostarinen — 74 Owen Tippett
19 Mason Marchment — 83 Juho Lammikko — 94 Ryan Lomberg
FLORIDA DEFENSEMEN
52 MacKenzie Weegar — 5 Aaron Ekblad
42 Gus Forsling — 6 Anton Stralman
3 Keith Yandle — 7 Radko Gudas
FLORIDA GOALIES
72 Sergei Bobrovsky
60 Chris Driedger
Scratches: F Vinnie Hinostroza, D Markus Nutivaara
Injured: C Sasha Barkov (lower body)
Loaned to AHL Syracuse (conditioning): D Noah Juulsen (UBI)
Taxi squad: D Kevin Connauton, D Riley Stillman, F Brett Connolly, G Philippe Desrosiers
Florida power play (26/100 26% — 6th in NHL)
Florida penalty kill (79/98 80.6% — 13th in NHL)
PP1: Alex Wennberg, Jonathan Huberdeau, Patric Hornqvist, Aaron Ekblad, Keith Yandle
PP2: Noel Acciari, Frank Vatrano, Anthony Duclair, Carter Verhaeghe, Gus Forsling
PROJECTED CHICAGO BLACKHAWKS LINES
CHICAGO FORWARDS
12 Alex DeBrincat — 64 David Kampf — 88 Patrick Kane
8 Dominic Kubalik —24 Pius Suter — 38 Brandon Hagel
13 Mattias Janmark — 22 Ryan Carpenter — 17 Dylan Strome
52 Reese Johnson — 34 Carl Soderberg — 23 Philipp Kurashev
CHICAGO DEFENSEMEN
2 Duncan Keith — 5 Connor Murphy
44 Calvin De Haan —27 Adam Boqvist
16 Nikita Zadorov — 51 Ian Marshall
CHICAGO GOALIES
32 Kevin Lankinen
30 Malcolm Subban
Chicago power play (29/103, 28.2% — 3rd in NHL)
Chicago penalty kill (72/100 72% — 28th in NHL)
PP1: Ryan Carpenter, Dylan Strome, Patrick Kane, Alex DeBrincat, Adam Boqvist
PP2: Mattias Janmark, Pius Sutter, Philipp Kurashev, Duncan Keith, Dominik Kubalik