George Richards, FHN Publisher
SUNRISE — When a team loses as big a piece as the Florida Panthers have with captain Sasha Barkov, you have to make adjustments.
Before flying off to Edmonton on Sunday, the Panthers certainly changed things up.
Barkov has now missed two games in the past 10 days due to a lingering non-Covid illness.
According to coach Paul Maurice, he was told to stay away from the team on Friday and missed Saturday’s game with St. Louis.
Due to the illness, he also did not fly with the team to Edmonton and will miss at least the next two games as Florida plays the Oilers tonight and are in Calgary on Tuesday.
The Panthers certainly hope Barkov kicks this thing and feels good enough to meet them later on in the trip.
He could certainly fly to Vancouver or Seattle and join the team — or miss the entire thing.
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“The moment he feels ready, we’ll get him on the trip,’’ Maurice said. “He has seen all the people he has needed to see and it is precautionary as well. We just don’t want to put him on an airplane where his illness is at right now.
”We are hoping in a couple of days he won’t be contagious and we can get him back in the lineup. If he does not have a fever and is feeling good in a couple days, he’ll be on a plane.
“If it is a few more days, we’ll wait. If he can‘t get it to break, we’ll see him when we get back home.’’
Florida was able to bring up reinforcements from Charlotte as Aleksi Heponiemi was recalled on an emergency basis after the team played shorthanded against the Blues in what turned into a 5-4 overtime loss.
Heponiemi laughed when it was mentioned he was Barkov’s replacement.
With Barkov out, Maurice had to turn things a little upside down.
Only the fourth line (Eric Staal with Ryan Lomberg and Patric Hornqvist) remained untouched.
Florida’s top two lines will now be centered by Sam Bennett and Anton Lundell.
Bennett will center Nick Cousins and Matthew Tkachuk; Lundell is with Carter Verhaeghe and Sam Reinhart.
Eetu Luostarinen moves from the left side of the third line to center a line with Heponiemi and Colin White.
“We have played together a little before and I am excited to play with those two,” Cousins said. “I have kind of played everywhere, started at center and have played left wing and right wing up-and-down the lineup. What has helped me stay in the league the past couple of years is being able to play with everyone. I get more comfortable every day, see what those guys like to do and help out where I can.”
Playing without Barkov is not something the Panthers have been very good at over the past couple of years.
Florida is now 0-1-1 this season with him missing games against Dallas and St. Louis although they were missing a skater due to the team’s salary cap problems.
The Panthers also went through a dry spell when Barkov was out last season due to a left knee injury and then sustained a separate upper body injury which occurred in his return game forcing him out of the next four.
In the 12 games that Barkov missed last season in mid-November through the Christmas Covid break, Florida went 7-5.
And that was with a full roster and cap flexibility to bring up whomever they needed.
Barkov picked right up where he left off upon returning last season.
“He can miss two years and he’s so talented that it doesn’t seem to affect him,” Andrew Brunette said at the time.
Said Cousins: “He is the captain of our team for a reason. He is the driver of our team and he is obviously a big loss for our team, especially up the middle of the ice. But I think we will do it by committee, everyone will have to pick up and play a little different role. It is a chance for guys to get more icetime and hopefully take advantage of it. It’s a big loss, but hopefully we see him on the trip.’’
PANTHERS ON DECK
FLORIDA PANTHERS AT EDMONTON OILERS
- When: Monday, 9:30 p.m.
- Where: Rogers Place; Edmonton, Alberta
- 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
- Season Series (Oilers lead 1-0): Edmonton 4, Florida (Nov. 12)
- Last season: Split 1-1
- All-time regular season series: Edmonton leads 22-14-0, 3 ties