
The Florida Panthers will be getting an influx of fresh blood into their lineup ahead of Game 5 in Raleigh.
Florida held their morning skate on Wednesday at Lenovo Center, and joining the team on the ice were injured players Sam Reinhart, A.J. Greer and Niko Mikkola.
Reinhart has not played since being injured by a Sebastian Aho hit during Game 2 while both Greer and Mikkola left Game 3 early with injuries.
All three players sat out Game 4, a 3-0 loss to Carolina, Florida’s first defeat of the conference final.
Now it appears that the Cats will have the full complement of a healthy lineup available in Raleigh.
After Florida’s morning skate, Panthers Head Coach Paul Maurice said that he expects all three players to be in the lineup.
“They’re all different kind of leaders,” Maurice said.
Florida’s power play, which went 4-for-5 during the first two games of the series, has gone 0-for-8 in the two since.
Reinhart will take his spot back on Florida’s top power play, and the hope is that he can help the unit get back on the right side of scoring.
“He brings an elite level of skill,” Maurice said of what Reinhart brings to the power play. “It’s just the finishing ability, the slot hole, that changes the way you view our power play when he's not there, in terms of who you've got to cover off.”
The Panthers top unit will likely go back to Reinhart joining Sasha Barkov, Matthew Tkachuk, Aaron Ekblad and Seth Jones.
Here is how the Cats lines and pairings will probably look for Game 5, with the return of Reinhart, Greer and Mikkola.
Evan Rodrigues – Sasha Barkov – Sam Reinhart
Carter Verhaeghe – Sam Bennett – Matthew Tkachuk
Eetu Luostarinen – Anton Lundell – Brad Marchand
A.J. Greer – Tomas Nosek – Jonah Gadjovich
Gus Forsling – Aaron Ekblad
Niko Mikkola – Seth Jones
Nate Schmidt – Dmitry Kulikov
The puck drops from Lenovo Center at 8 p.m.
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Photo caption: Nov 29, 2024; Raleigh, North Carolina, USA; Florida Panthers center Sam Reinhart (13) celebrates his goal against the Carolina Hurricanes during the first period at Lenovo Center. (James Guillory-Imagn Images)