The Florida Panthers are hoping for a better result when they hit the ice for Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Final against the Edmonton Oilers. The Cats lost 4-3 in overtime on Wednesday in Game 1 following a costly delay of game penalty, putting them behind 1-0 in the best-of-seven series.

But as they were in Game 1, they'll be shorthanded on Friday night. Panthers head coach Paul Maurice announced that forward A.J. Greer remains unable to play but also added that he's on track to appear in Game 3 in Florida on Monday evening, via The Miami Herald.

“He’s on track but he won’t go tonight,” Maurice said, “but we think if he tracks out, he could be available for Game 3.”

In Greer's absence, the Panthers will continue utilizing Jesper Boqvist on the fourth line along with Tomas Nosek; Boqvist saw just under eight minutes of total ice time in Game 1.

With no changes to the lineup, Florida will ice the same line combinations as they did on Wednesday night at Rogers Place.

Forwards

Evan Rodrigues – Aleksander Barkov – Sam Reinhart

Carter Verhaeghe – Sam Bennett – Matthew Tkachuk

Eetu Luostarinen – Anton Lundell – Brad Marchand

Jesper Boqvist – Tomas Nosek – Jonah Gadjovich

Defense

Gustav Forsling – Aaron Ekblad

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Niko Mikkola – Seth Jones

Nate Schmidt – Dmitry Kulikov

As usual, Sergei Bobrovsky will get the start in goal.

Panthers don't want to fall into 0-2 hole vs. Oilers 

Florida Panthers left wing A.J. Greer (10) shoots against the Toronto Maple Leafs during the second period in game four of the second round of the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs at Amerant Bank Arena.
Kim Klement Neitzel-Imagn Images

The Panthers, who are once again near the top of the mountain in their third consecutive Stanley Cup Final appearance, know they can't afford to fall into another 0-2 series hole. While they did manage to overcome that deficit in the Eastern Conference Semi Final against the Toronto Maple Leafs, the Oilers have proven all postseason long to be a completely different animal.

Panthers coach Paul Maurice spoke bluntly about what he referred to as the lack of “BS” in the playing style of both clubs.

“There isn’t any casualness and there’s no BS in either team’s game,” Maurice said. “The pucks go deep that are supposed to go deep. I think we had one all night we didn’t like, maybe two all night that we didn’t like our decision of the line. They didn’t fool around with it, either. It was honest, it was hard, it was fast, and it was tight.”

The puck will drop for a critical Game 2 on Friday evening just past 8:00 p.m. ET.