May 28: All three players are returning to the lineup tonight after the Panthers dropped Game 4 by a score of 3-0 without them, Maurice told reporters, including Michael Russo of The Athletic, this morning.
May 26: Panthers star winger Sam Reinhart, who already missed Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Final because of a lower-body injury, will remain out for Game 4 tonight, head coach Paul Maurice told reporters (including Eric Engels of Sportsnet). Defenseman Niko Mikkola and winger A.J. Greer, who sustained upper-body and undisclosed injuries in Game 3, respectively, will also miss the potential conference championship-clinching game and are day-to-day, Maurice said.
Reinhart exited Game 2 in the first period due to a hit from Hurricanes center Sebastian Aho and didn’t return. Maurice said yesterday that Reinhart had neither been ruled out nor cleared for Game 4, while Greer and Mikkola weren’t expected to miss time. The latter statements jumped the gun.
Luckily for them, the Panthers have built up a 3-0 cushion in the series to limit the potential effects of their absences (and, if all goes well tonight, allow everyone time to get healthy for Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final). They already won once without Reinhart, cruising to a 6-2 win in Game 3 with a third-period scoring explosion. The 29-year-old has been good but not overly dominant in this year’s playoff run, posting four goals and 11 points in 14 games after scoring 10 goals in 24 playoff games in last year’s Stanley Cup win.
But Mikkola played a massive role in that win, scoring a pair of goals, including the game-winner. After the best regular season of his career, the 6’6″ Finn has further solidified his status as a high-end second-pairing option in the playoffs, posting five points and a plus-six rating while averaging north of 19 minutes per game. With the Panthers having fewer quality depth options on the blue line outside of their usual lineup compared to their forward group, his absence will be a little more difficult for Maurice to deal with as he tries to sweep Carolina in the ECF for the second time in three years.
Jesper Boqvist, who’s been the 13th forward this postseason but still has five points in his last three appearances, will remain in the lineup in Reinhart’s stead. Maurice said that rearguard Uvis Balinskis will replace Mikkola in the lineup while depth center Nico Sturm enters the lineup for the fourth-liner Greer.