Will Reinhart, Mikkola, Greer play in Game 4 vs Carolina? Panthers make decisions
The Florida Panthers will go for their first chance to wrap up the Eastern Conference final down three key players.
Panthers coach Paul Maurice said wingers Sam Reinhart and A.J. Greer along with defenseman Niko Mikkola are all out for Game 4 on Monday against the Carolina Hurricanes.
All three are listed as day-to-day.
Reinhart is missing his second consecutive game with a lower-body injury sustained in Game 2 of the series, while Greer and Mikkola both exited Game 3 in the third period with injury.
Jesper Boqvist, Nico Sturm and Uvis Balinskis will draw into the lineup to replace those three.
“The determination is the three guys I’m going to put in will perform better than those men would tonight,” Maurice said after the team’s morning skate on Monday.
Reinhart, the Panthers’ top goal-scorer the past two years and one of three finalists for the Selke Trophy given annually to the league’s top defensive forward, sustained his injury late in the first period of Game 2 against Carolina on Thursday when he took a low hit from Carolina forward Sebastian Aho.
Mikkola, who scored twice on Saturday, didn’t play the final 12 minutes of Game 3 after crashing shoulder first into the boards. He had been stellar for the Panthers on both ends of the ice, playing strong defense on Florida’s second pair with Seth Jones and also contributing five points (three goals, two assists) offensively.
Greer, who has two goals and three points in 11 postseason games while primarily playing on the fourth line, left with an undisclosed injury with 4:02 left to play.
As for the three players filling in...
▪ Boqvist will remain on the Panthers’ top line with center Aleksander Barkov and Evan Rodrigues. Boqvist scored the go-ahead goal 1:29 into the third period and added two more assists as the Panthers scored five goals in the final frame.
▪ Sturm played in Florida’s first seven games this postseason a their fourth-line center before Maurice swapped out that entire line heading into Game 3 of the team’s second-round series against the Toronto Maple Leafs. Sturm will play on the wing with center Tomas Nosek and right wing Jonah Gadjovich.
▪ Balinskis has played four games this postseason, all of which came while Aaron Ekblad was sidelined due to a pair of suspensions. He has one goal.
This story was originally published May 26, 2025 at 11:33 AM.
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