Aleksander Barkov enjoys the hall.
Eetu Luostarinen shared information about Aleksander Barkov. Tomi Natri / AOP
The champion captain who led the Florida Panthers to two consecutive Stanley Cup championships Alexander Barkov30, was injured in training camp and has been sidelined for the entire preseason.
At the end of September, information came from Florida that Barkov would be out of action for 7-9 months. Barkov injured his anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) and medial collateral ligament (MCL) in training and underwent surgery shortly after the accident.
Although Barkov can return to his team’s lineup at the end of the regular season at the earliest, he has not been able to stay away from the hall.
– In everyday life, you see him a lot in the hall. He is the first in the hall and the last to leave. You see the man quite a lot, but he hasn’t gone on trips. He is rehabilitating himself, which is the best thing for him now. He chats and is loud in the hall. From the outside, you might think he has nothing, the Panthers’ Finnish forward Eetu Luostarinen told Finnish media at an interview event.
Barkov isn’t the only Panthers star who has been plagued by injuries. Superstar Matthew Tkachuk has, like Barkov, been on the sidelines throughout the early season.
Tkachuk will be back in the lineup soon, head coach Paul Maurice bathed before Christmas on the NHL website. Tkachuk could already play in the outdoor game hosted by the Panthers on January 2nd.
Effect
According to Niko Mikkola, the Panthers are on schedule. PDO
The absence of star strikers was visible in the team’s performances, especially in the early season.
– Of course it shows to some extent. They are our two top players and big leaders in the booth. The other players have had to get used to slightly different roles, Niko Mikkola evaluate.
When the NHL’s few-day Christmas break began, the Panthers were in the last playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.
The Panthers have been in a good mood and have won eight of their last ten games. Before the hot streak, the team lost four games in a row.
Mikkola has been satisfied with the team’s performance for almost the entire season.
– They have all been tight games. I think we played well at one point but we just didn’t get the points. The one-goal games we’ve usually won, we lost. The fact that the two top individuals were out of the lineup certainly contributed to that.
– However, we are well on schedule. Last year we didn’t go from victory to victory all the time either, Mikkola added.
The Panthers will return from the Christmas break on the night before Sunday Finnish time. The Panthers host the local rival Tampa Bay Lightning.
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