Florida Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov still is regaining his legs after missing two games with an illness.
He earned an assist in his first game back, a 6-1 road victory over the Minnesota Wild on Wednesday.
After playing a season-low 16:01 against the Wild, Barkov should be ready for a bigger workload when the Panthers host the St. Louis Blues on Friday in Sunrise, Fla.
Barkov said of his brief outing on Wednesday, “Felt good and happy to be back, especially with the win. So, really happy.”
Panthers defenseman Aaron Ekblad, who had a goal and two assists at Minnesota, said of Barkov, “He is incredible on a nightly basis and even if he doesn’t have his best stuff, he is still one of the best players on the ice. Really important to have him.”
Barkov’s return Wednesday was especially crucial with center Sam Bennett sidelined because of an illness. Bennett is questionable for the game versus the Blues.
Florida went 3-2-0 on its just-concluded five-game road trip against Western Conference foes. After winning 2-1 in a shootout at Seattle and then getting blanked 4-0 at Vancouver and 3-0 at Calgary, the Panthers rebounded to score 12 goals combined in victories at Edmonton and Minnesota.
“It’s not easy to go from Florida to the West Coast,” Panthers coach Paul Maurice said. “It’s never about the numbers. I like the way we rebounded. Those two losses were good because we learned from them.”
The Panthers are 8-2-1 in their last 11 games. They will play six of their next seven games at home, where they are 9-5-1 this season.
They will catch the Blues playing in the second of back-to-back games. Jordan Binnington started in goal in the 3-1 loss the Tampa Bay Lightning on Thursday, but he was replaced by Joel Hofer with 6:27 left in the second period.
“I just needed to change momentum of the game,” Blues coach Jim Montgomery said. “We were down, we had just gotten it to 2-1 (before giving up another goal 1:18 later). … I just wanted to slow the game down and get an opportunity to talk to the team on the bench.”
Binnington yielded three goals on 11 shots before Hofer stopped all seven shots he faced.
Montgomery typically splits his goaltending starts in back-to-back games, and he indicated that Binnington’s early exit wouldn’t necessarily change that pattern.
“Both our goalies are playing well,” he said. “I don’t worry about either one of them being too tired.”
St. Louis is set to play its fifth game during a span of seven days. The Friday contest will be the 10th road game the Blues have played in a 14-game stretch.
Checking-line center Radek Faksa could return to the Blues’ lineup Friday after missing five games with a groin laceration. He participated in the morning skate at Tampa Bay on Thursday but did not dress for the game.
The Blues made a roster move on Thursday, recalling defenseman Tyler Tucker to fill the spot vacated when Pierre-Olivier Joseph was traded to the Pittsburgh Penguins for future considerations on Wednesday. With Philip Broberg sidelined by illness on Thursday, Tucker made his season debut against the Lightning and had a minus-2 rating in 8:29 of ice time.
“All the reports are he’s had a terrific season, especially in the last month down in Springfield. Just his identity, we kind of feel we need that in our D corps,” Montgomery said. “Someone with a heavy presence, someone that’s physical, someone that defends the net hard and lay some big hits out there.”
Broberg is questionable to face the Panthers.
–Field Level Media
