Captain Aleksander Barkov returned to the ice Monday to score his very first goal of the season in the Florida Panthers’ 5-2 victory against the Buffalo Sabres.
Barkov, who also added an assist in the win, missed the last eight games due to a lower-body injury after slamming into the end boards in an attempt to block an empty-net goal in a loss to the Ottawa Senators.
The deep Panthers got by without their leader, but his return allowed them to balance the roster, and players were able to resume their normal positions with Sam Bennett centering the second line, and Anton Lundell shutting down plays from the checking line.
“It just changes so many things, the impact when he’s on the ice,” coach Paul Maurice said of Barkov, last season’s Selke Trophy winner, given to the NHL’s top defensive forward. “There’s a lot of responsibility that Barky takes on seamlessly every night. But it changes our matchup, too, even on the road, so it makes running the bench quite a bit easier.”
The Panthers managed to go 5-2-1 in Barkov’s absence, though they lost to the Sabres, 5-2, earlier in the month in their first full game without the help of the captain.
But his return couldn’t have come at a better time, as Barkov has joined the rest of the Panthers on a trip to his hometown of Tampere, Finland to play a two-game series against the Dallas Stars this weekend.
“I’ve been thinking about them all the time, obviously ever since they got announced and waiting for this this day, actually to travel there and go home again,” Barkov said of playing in his home country as part of the NHL’s Global Series. “I was there once in Helsinki. We played two games. But this is going to be even more special. It’s in my hometown and the rink where my team plays. So, it’s going to be a one-of-a-kind experience, for sure.”
Barkov is the first Finnish-born Stanley Cup winning captain in the NHL, an accomplishment that will be sure to be cause of celebration back home.
And, indeed, this will be Barkov’s second time playing in his home country, the first being in 2018 when Maurice was the coach of the opposing team, the Winnipeg Jets. It was also a game attended by Lundell, his Finnish teammate, who attended that contest as a fan in the stands.
“I get chills when I think about getting to play there,” Lundell said of the full-circle moment after he was drafted by the Panthers two years after that game against the Jets. “The timing couldn’t be any better.”
The Panthers have yet to meet the Stars this season but had a 2-0 record against them last season. Puck drop for Game 2 is at 1 p.m. ET Friday. Game 2 will begin at 11 a.m. ET Saturday.
