Evan Rodrigues is out for Game 5. Here’s how the Panthers are replacing him
After sitting the past two games, Jesper Boqvist will once again have an opportunity to make an impact in the playoffs for the Florida Panthers.
Boqvist is drawing into the lineup for Game 5 of the Panthers’ second-round Stanley Cup playoffs series against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Wednesday. He is replacing Evan Rodrigues, who is sidelined with an injury sustained in Game 4 on Sunday.
The 26-year-old forward, who set a single-season career-high with 12 goals and tied his career-high with 23 points, will start on Florida’s top line with Aleksander Barkov and Sam Reinhart.
“It’s a great opportunity, obviously, to play with two great players,” Boqvist told the Miami Herald after the team’s morning skate at Scotiabank Arena. “I’ve just got to do what I do. I can’t be someone else, right? ... It’s gonna be a lot of fun.”
Boqvist, in his first season with the Panthers after playing four seasons with the New Jersey Devils and a fifth with the Boston Bruins, played in Florida’s first seven games — all five in the first round against the Tampa Bay Lightning and the first two against the Maple Leafs — before being a scratch in Games 3 and 4 when Panthers coach Paul Maurice decided to swap out his entire fourth line after dropping the first two games of the series.
Maurice said Boqvist’s versatility — he can play all three forward spots and be a seventh option on the penalty kill — played a factor in him drawing in for Rodrigues.
“A lot of skill, a lot of speed like we’ve seen throughout this whole year,” Barkov said. “Playing against him for years, you see that skill and speed, and now you see it so close. Every practice, every game, he has a lot of skill.”
As for Rodrigues, he sustained the injury about five minutes into the third period on Sunday when he took a high hit near the boards from Maple Leafs defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson away from the puck. Rodrigues lied on the ice face-down for a few minutes before being helped off and into the dressing room.
Ekman-Larsson was initially assessed a five-minute major penalty for interference on the play, but the infraction was reduced to a two-minute minor penalty after review.
Rodrigues, who was on the ice for morning skate Wednesday, was the only Panthers player to dress for every game this season — all 82 in the regular season and each of the first nine so far in the Stanley Cup playoffs — before missing Wednesday’s game. He had 34 points in the regular season (15 goals, 17 assists) and three assists so far in the postseason.
“He just can’t play today,” Maurice said pregame Wednesday.
Everyone’s scoring
The Panthers’ scoring depth has been on full display so far during the Stanley Cup playoffs.
Entering Game 5 on Wednesday, the Panthers have eight players tied for the team lead with eight points: Sam Bennett (five goals, three assists), Carter Verhaeghe (four goals, four assists), Barkov (three goals, five assists), Reinhart (three goals, five assists), Matthew Tkachuk (three goals, five assists), Anton Lundell (three goals, five assists), Brad Marchand (two goals, six assists) and Eetu Luostarinen (two goals, six assists).
No other team so far this postseason has more than five players with at least eight points.
Additionally, the Panthers have five different players with at least one game-winning goal. Defenseman Nate Schmidt has two, while Marchand, Verhaeghe, Bennett and defenseman Seth Jones each has one.
“It doesn’t matter who’s on the ice. We can get the job done,” Barkov said. “Every single guy needs to bring their best.”
Added Maurice: “The change in that number would be your third line, however you order them coming off the bench. They hit the ice thinking we’ve got a responsibility defensively, but they can score goals. They can put pucks in the net and they feel that. Confidence is a big part in that.”
Barkov reacts to Domi hit
Barkov, with a laugh, said he “didn’t see” the hit from Maple Leafs forward Max Domi on him at the end of Game 4 on Sunday that resulted in a scrum as time expired. Domi was assessed a five-minute major penalty for boarding and three others — Florida’s Marchand and Aaron Ekblad, Toronto’s Bobby McMann — received 10-minute misconducts.
“It’s fine,” Barkov said. “It’s playoff hockey. Things happen.”
.JPG)