Panthers rookie out vs Blackhawks with illness. How that changes Florida’s lineup
The Florida Panthers will have a minor shakeup with their lineup on Saturday afternoon when they host the Chicago Blackhawks (1 p.m., ABC).
Rookie forward Mackie Samoskevich will not play against Chicago while he deals with an illness, Panthers coach Paul Maurice said pregame.
Jonah Gadjovich, who hasn’t played since Dec. 20 while tending to an upper-body injury, will draw into the lineup in Samoskevich’s place.
Gadjovich, who joined the Panthers last season and signed a two-year extension with the club last March, will take his customary spot as a winger on the fourth line along with fellow winger A.J. Greer and center Tomas Nosek. Prior to his injury, Gadjovich had one goal and 56 hits in his 18 games played.
“It’s good to have him back in,” Maurice said of Gadjovich. “He’s been here now long enough that he’s more comfortable on the bench, talking and chirping, and he’s certainly well respected around the league. Very, very clean player, but very physical. So little bit of that physicality on that line will be important to us. It’ll keep us hopefully out of the puck game and keep us into the physical game.”
With Samoskevich out, Evan Rodrigues will move to the second line along with Sam Bennett and Matthew Tkachuk. Samoskevich has 16 points (seven goals, nine assists) in 47 games this season.
Florida’s projected forward lines for Saturday, based on the team’s pregame rushes, should be as follows...
Carter Verhaeghe-Aleksander Barkov-Sam Reinhart
Jesper Boqvist-Sam Bennett-Matthew Tkachuk
Eetu Luostarinen-Anton Lundell-Evan Rodrigues
Jonah Gadjovich-Tomas Nosek-A.J. Greer
The rest of Florida’s lineup remains the same as its game on Wednesday against the Los Angeles Kings.
The defense pairs are Gustav Forsling with Aaron Ekblad, Niko Mikkola with Dmitry Kulikov and Nate Schmidt with Uvis Balinskis. Sergei Bobrovsky, who is coming off a 29-save shutout, is in net.
This story was originally published February 1, 2025 at 11:08 AM.
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