The Florida Panthers take on the Edmonton Oilers tonight, and they’ll welcome Eetu Luostarinen, Evan Rodrigues, and Niko Mikkola back into their lineup.
The Florida Panthers and Edmonton Oilers face off in a Stanley Cup finals rematch tonight, and we’ll do so with a trio of lineup changes.
On Tuesday, the Panthers were without Eetu Luostarinen, Evan Rodrigues, and Niko Mikkola, all of whom will return to the lineup tonight against the Oilers.
Exiting the lineup will be Nolan Foote, Vinnie Hinostroza, and Donovan Sebrango. Foote made his Panthers debut on Tuesday, facing off against the Vancouver Canucks, a team coached by his father, Adam Foote.
In his Panthers debut, Foote recorded four shots on goal in 8:23 of ice time.
Against the Oilers, the Panthers will receive much-needed veteran additions. This season, Luostarinen has scored eight goals and 25 points in 58 games. Tonight, he’ll return to his usual spot in the lineup alongside Anton Lundell. They’ll be joined by Jesper Boqvist.
As for Rodrigues, he’s scored 11 goals and 28 points in 65 games. He’ll center the third line with A.J. Greer and Mackie Samoskevich on his wings.
Mikkola, who missed his first game of the season on Tuesday, has scored three goals and 11 points in 66 games. He’ll be paired with Seth Jones, as the two haven’t skated together since Jones sustained his injury on Jan. 2.
Uvis Balinskis was once again absent from practice, and while Gadjovich did skate, he is still not 100 percent, according to Jameson Olive.
Additionally, Sergei Bobrovsky will be in goal for the Panthers, starting his 46th game of the season.
Panthers projected lines:
Verhaeghe – Bennett – Tkachuk
Luostarinen – Lundell – Boqvist
Greer – Rodrigues – Samoskevich
Reinhardt – Nosek - Kunin
Forsling – Ekblad
Mikkola - Jones
Kulikov - Benning
Bobrovsky
Tarasov
For action-packed issues, access to the entire magazine archive and a free issue, subscribe to The Hockey News at THN.com/free. Get the latest news and trending stories by subscribing to our newsletter here. And share your thoughts by commenting below the article on THN.com or creating your own post in our community forum.