The Florida Panthers will get a big boost when captain Aleksander Barkov returns to the lineup Tuesday against the St. Louis Blues, a team dealing with their own injuries.
Barkov missed eight games with the injuries, which occurred on a knee-on-knee collision with the Islanders’ Scott Mayfield on Nov. 16. Before the injury, Barkov was on a 10-game point streak and he has nine goals and 17 points in 15 games this season.
Defenceman Gustav Forsling will also return to the lineup for the Panthers Tuesday after missing three games with an undisclosed injury.
While the Panthers got some good injury news ahead of the game, the Blues did not. Instead, the team will play with only 10 forwards and 17 skaters due to salary cap restraints and an injury to centre Robert Thomas.
Thomas (lower-body) joins David Perron (upper-body), James Neal (upper-body), Klim Kostin (upper-body) on the sidelines due to injuries, while Jordan Binnington, Justin Faulk and Tyler Bozak remain in COVID-19 protocols.
“Forwards are going to get a lot of ice time, that’s the bottom line,” Blues head coach Craig Berube said pre-game. “You’ve got to play smart. You can’t force things, you have to have real good line changes, keep your shifts short. Discipline, staying out of the penalty box, we don’t need to be killing a lot of penalties. Then go out and play, compete hard and work hard. And (then) you give yourself a chance.”
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