Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov exits with lower-body injury in first period of Game 3
The Florida Panthers have touted their experience with adversity this season as a reason they’re ahead in the Eastern Conference finals, but they faced one of their toughest tests yet in Game 3 on Monday: Aleksander Barkov left in the first period with a lower-body injury and was still out as they returned to the ice for the second period. The team announced he was questionable to return.
The All-Star center exited with about seven minutes left in the first after taking a seemingly innocuous hit from Jack Drury. He briefly went to the bench and then back to the locker room, and did not return with the Panthers when they came back to the ice for warm-ups before the second period.
Barkov, 27, played 3:51 in the first before leaving.
Coach Paul Maurice did not have an update on Barkov’s status, joking the star forward went to attend a neighbor’s bar mitzvah.
The captain has been one of the biggest reasons Florida has gone from just barely making the 2023 Stanley Cup playoffs to the brink of the Stanley Cup Finals in the last month. He scored in both Games 1 and 2 of the East finals against the Hurricanes in Raleigh, North Carolina, and his second goal Saturday was one of the highlights of postseason so far — a gorgeous fake through-the-legs deke, which Hockey Hall of Fame center Wayne Gretzky called “one of the best moves I’ve seen in the Stanley Cup playoffs” on TNT on Saturday.
Barkov has also been a defensive stalwart in the Cup playoffs, helping shut down superstar center Auston Matthews in the Panthers’ second-round romp past the Maple Leafs.
Barkov has four goals, eight assists, two power-play points, 40 shots, 10 blocked shots and a plus-minus of plus-6 in the playoffs.
Neither team scored in the first period after Barkov left, as both went 0 for 1 on the power play. Barkov plays on the top power-play and penalty-kill units for Florida. Florida finally broke the scoreless tie with a power-play goal with 9:51 left in the second.
With Barkov out, the Panthers had to piece together their top-line center minutes, first giving forward Eetu Luostarinen a chance to play in between left wing Carter Verhaeghe and right wing Anthony Duclair.
