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The Florida Panthers may be the defending Stanley Cup champions, but they are limping into the 2025 postseason. With just five games left in their regular-season, the Cats have lost five games in a row and things don't get any easier on Tuesday night against a Toronto Maple Leafs team that has won four straight.
Ahead of a home tilt with the Atlantic Division leaders, head coach Paul Maurice provided updates on a couple of key players ahead of the final 10 days of the regular-season.
Captain Aleksander Barkov, who has missed the last three games, will return to the lineup, Maurice confirmed. As will leading goal scorer Sam Reinhart and key defenseman Gustav Forsling, who were both rested on Sunday against the Detroit Red Wings.
That's the good news for the Panthers. The bad news is that Sam Bennett, who also didn't play on Sunday, will likely miss the rest of the regular-season with an upper-body injury.
“I just don't think he's going back in,” Maurice said, per NHL.com's George Richards. “We're going to take the time for the rest of the season. It was over the course of the road trip, and we can manage it. But he can't play his game at his best. He can play, but we have to get him as close to 100 percent and we think we might be able to do that. But we have to do that off the ice.”
The bench boss confirmed that there's “zero” concern that Bennett won't be ready for Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Playoffs later in April.
Getting Barkov, Reinhart and Forsling back in the lineup for a heavyweight tilt with the Leafs is huge for the team, but losing Bennett is an unfortunate blow. Maurice made it clear that it's important his top guys get some rest over a gruelling schedule.
“We're nine games in 15 days this month, with three sets of back-to-backs,” Maurice said, per Richards. “And that's coming off 10 of 14 on the road. I have Sam Reinhart playing 86 games (including the 4 Nations Face-Off) and he has played more games than anyone in the NHL over the past two seasons.”
Still, the most significant injury facing the team is Matthew Tkachuk, who has been a catalyst in each of the last two Stanley Cup runs.
Matthew Tkachuk remains biggest concern for Panthers
Maurice said on the weekend that Tkachuk is “still a ways away” from returning, but the goal is still that he, along with Bennett, will be ready for the postseason.
Tkachuk has been out since mid-February after sustaining a lower-body injury while playing for the United States at the 4 Nations Face-Off. Although he travelled with the team on their recent road trip — Florida went 0-3-1 — he almost certainly won't play in any of the Panthers' last five games.
The 27-year-old winger has been great again in 2024-25 when healthy, managing 22 goals and 57 points over 52 games. Maurice said that Nico Sturm and Dmitry Kulikov, who have missed three and nine games, respectively, with upper-body injuries, should return this week.
If that holds true, only Tkachuk, Bennett and Aaron Ekblad, who continues to serve a 20-game suspension, will be out of action for the end of the regular-season.
Florida plays four more homes games — starting against Toronto on Tuesday — before playing game No. 82 against the Lightning in Tampa Bay on April 15.
Now a full six points behind the Leafs, the Panthers will look to make up some ground at Amerant Bank Arena on Tuesday night.
