Panthers Prepared to be Shorthanded Against Flyers

The Florida Panthers are likely to be shorthanded again when they visit the Philadelphia Flyers on Sunday night.

Sasha Barkov and Aaron Ekblad are still likely to be out with their respective lower-body injuries.

Per Panthers team reporter Jameson Olive, Barkov is on track to return either Tuesday against the Boston Bruins or Thursday against the New York Islanders.

Ekblad, meanwhile, is expected to return “sometime next week.”

Gus Forsling’s status is still up in the air due to an illness.

He is one of a few “game-time decisions,” per Maurice via FloridaPanthers.com.

But they could get some reinforcements back in the lineup.

Dmitry Kulikov is set to return from a two-game suspension and Ryan Lomberg could draw back in the lineup after missing Saturday’s game with an undisclosed injury.

UPDATE: Kulikov and Lomberg are both set to return, with Lomberg drawing in for Kyle Okposo.

No matter who draws into the lineup, coach Paul Maurice is not using it as an excuse.

Florida’s injury report has been pretty lengthy throughout the team’s four-game losing streak, but the way they played in Saturday’s shootout loss to the New York Rangers was markedly different from the first three.

“We were a really good, hard team and then we had three or four really unusual games,” Maurice said.

“But in that, Bennett was out, Rodrigues was out, we lose Ekblad, so now you start losing important players. It’s not an excuse, just a factor right? But tonight we had all those guys out and we played hard and we come in and, for me, we tie the best team in the Metropolitan Division, so it’s good.”

Story will be updated after coach Paul Maurice meets with the media at 3:45 p.m. EST.

ON DECK

FLORIDA PANTHERS @ PHILADELPHIA FLYERS

• When: Sunday, 6 p.m.
• Where: Wells Fargo Center, Philadelphia
• 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, NHL app
• Local Odds — Panthers Favored: Money Line (-165); Puck line (-1.5, +145); Over/Under 6.5 (+115/-140)
• Season Series (Flyers Lead 2-0) — At Florida: Flyers 2, Panthers 1 (Feb 6); Flyers 2, Panthers 1 (March 7). At Philadelphia: Sunday.  
• Last Season: Philadelphia won 2-1
• All-time Regular Season Series: Philadelphia leads 58-37-6, 7 ties
• Up Next for the Panthers: Tuesday vs. Boston, 7 p.m.

PROJECTED FLORIDA PANTHERS (45-20-5) LINEUP

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

17 Evan Rodrigues // 15 Anton Lundell // 13 Sam Reinhart

21 Nick Cousins // 27 Eetu Luostarinen// 10 Vladimir Tarasenko

94 Ryan Lomberg // 82 Kevin Stenlund // 18 Steven Lorentz

77 Niko Mikkola // 62 Brandon Montour

28 Josh Mahura // 26 Uvis Balinskis

91 Oliver Ekman-Larsson // 7 Dmitry Kulikov

41 Anthony Stolarz

72 Sergei Bobrovsky

Scratched:  Jonah Gadjovich, Tobias Bjornfot, Kyle Okposo

Injured: Aaron Ekblad (lower body), Sasha Barkov (lower body), Gus Forsling (illness)

PROJECTED PHILADELPHIA FLYERS (36-26-9) LINEUP

74 Owen Tippett // 48 Morgan Frost // 11 Travis Konecny

86 Joel Farabee // 21 Scott Laughton // 1o Bobby Brink

71 Tyson Foerster //25 Ryan Poehling // 19 Garnet Hathaway

27 Noah Cates // 14 Sean Couturier // 62 Olle Lycksell

8 Cam York // 5 Travis Sanheim

50 Adam Ginning // 23 Ronnie Attard

5 Egor Zamula // 77 Erik Johnson

32 Felix Sandstrom

33 Samuel Ersson

Scratched: Denis Gurianov, Nicolas Deslauriers, Cam Atkinson, Marc Staal, Ryan Johansen

Injured: Rasmus Ristolainen (upper body), Nick Seeler (lower body), Jamie Drysdale (upper body)

Philadelphia Flyers Lines Courtesy NHL.com