Panthers star winger Sam Reinhart, who already missed Recreation 3 of the Japanese Convention Remaining due to a lower-body harm, will stay out for Recreation 4 Monday, head coach Paul Maurice informed reporters (together with Eric Engels of Sportsnet). Defenseman Niko Mikkola and winger A.J. Greer, who sustained upper-body and undisclosed accidents in Recreation 3, respectively, may even miss the potential convention championship-clinching sport and are day-to-day, Maurice mentioned.
Reinhart exited Recreation 2 within the first interval resulting from successful from Hurricanes middle Sebastian Aho and didn’t return. Maurice said Sunday that Reinhart had neither been dominated out nor cleared for Recreation 4, whereas Greer and Mikkola weren’t anticipated to overlook time. The latter statements jumped the gun.
Fortunately for them, the Panthers have constructed up a 3-0 cushion within the collection to restrict the potential results of their absences (and, if all goes nicely Monday, enable everybody time to get wholesome for Recreation 1 of the Stanley Cup Remaining). They already gained as soon as with out Reinhart, cruising to a 6-2 win in Recreation 3 with a third-period scoring explosion. The 29-year-old has been good however not overly dominant on this 12 months’s playoff run, posting 4 targets and 11 factors in 14 video games after scoring 10 targets in 24 playoff video games in final 12 months’s Stanley Cup win.
However Mikkola performed a large position in that win, scoring a pair of targets, together with the game-winner. After the very best common season of his profession, the 6-foot-6 Finn has additional solidified his standing as a high-end second-pairing possibility within the playoffs, posting 5 factors and a plus-six ranking whereas averaging north of 19 minutes per sport. With the Panthers having fewer high quality depth choices on the blue line outdoors of their standard lineup in comparison with their ahead group, his absence might be just a little harder for Maurice to cope with as he tries to brush Carolina within the ECF for the second time in three years.
Jesper Boqvist, who’s been the thirteenth ahead this postseason however nonetheless has 5 factors in his final three appearances, will stay within the lineup in Reinhart’s stead. Maurice mentioned that rearguard Uvis Balinskis will substitute Mikkola within the lineup whereas depth middle Nico Sturm enters the lineup for the fourth-liner Greer.
