Florida Panthers make lineup change for winner-take-all Game 7 vs Maple Leafs
The Florida Panthers are making one lineup change for their winner-take-all Game 7 against the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Forward Evan Rodrigues is drawing back into the lineup Sunday after missing the past two games with injury. He is replacing Jesper Boqvist, who held Rodrigues’ spot on the left wing of Florida’s top line with center Aleksander Barkov and right wing Sam Reinhart for Games 5 and 6.
Rodrigues sustained the injury about five minutes into the third period of Game 4 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 Games 5 and 6. He had 34 points in the regular season (15 goals, 17 assists) and three assists so far in the postseason.
The 31-year-old forward’s role has fluctuated throughout the season, with Rodrigues moving up and down the lineup. He started the playoffs on the fourth line with Nico Sturm and Boqvist before moving up to the second line with Sam Bennett and Matthew Tkachuk in Game 4 of Florida’s first-round series against the Tampa Bay Lightning. He moved up to the top line with Barkov and Reinhart ahead of Game 3 against the Maple Leafs.
Rodrigues also plays on the Panthers’ second power-play unit.
As such, the Panthers’ lineup for Sunday night should be as follows...
Forward lines
Evan Rodrigues-Aleksander Barkov-Sam Reinhart
Carter Verhaeghe-Sam Bennett-Matthew Tkachuk
Eetu Luostarinen-Anton Lundell-Brad Marchand
A.J. Greer-Tomas Nosek-Jonah Gadjovich
Defense pairs
Gustav Forsling-Aaron Ekblad
Niko Mikkola-Seth Jones
Nate Schmidt-Dmitry Kulikov
Goaltenders
Sergei Bobrovsky
Vitek Vanecek
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