Panthers at Maple Leafs preview
Florida center Barkov out with lower-body injury; Kapanen back in Toronto lineup
by Dave McCarthy / NHL.com Independent Correspondent
PANTHERS (28-17-5) at MAPLE LEAFS (28-17-7)
7 p.m. ET; ESPN+, TVAS, TSN4, FS-F, NHL.TV
The Game
Aleksander Barkov will not be in the lineup when the Florida Panthers play the Toronto Maple Leafs at Scotiabank Arena on Monday.
The center is day to day with a lower-body injury sustained in a 4-0 loss to the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday. Florida trails Toronto by two points for third in the Atlantic Division with two games in hand.
Kasperi Kapanen will return to the lineup for Toronto after he was a healthy scratch against the Ottawa Senators on Saturday for being late to practice Friday after oversleeping.
Players to watch
Panthers forward Mike Hoffman had a 10-game point streak (five goals, eight assists) end against the Canadiens.
Maple Leafs forward William Nylander has nine points (five goals, four assists) during a seven-game point streak.
They said it
"We want to make sure we're ready to play. Last game was a tough game to begin the post All-Star break and we're going to have to be ready in all facets tonight through the middle of the ice, with the puck, and we know they're dangerous in the zone as well but we don't want to give them anything unnecessary. We want to make them work for what they get." -- Panthers coach Joel Quenneville
"I don't think this needs to be made a bigger deal than it needs to be, especially in this case where it was very innocent. It just gets to the point where you have to respond for the sake of the player. This is not a punishment or anything like that, it's just about trying to reset the player and help him grow and get better. We want him to be the player he's capable of being." -- Maple Leafs coach Sheldon Keefe on Kasperi Kapanen
Panthers projected lineup
Jonathan Huberdeau -- Vincent Trocheck -- Evgenii Dadonov
Brett Connolly -- Brian Boyle -- Noel Acciari
Frank Vatrano -- Dominic Toninato -- Mike Hoffman
Colton Sceviour -- Jayce Hawryluk -- Denis Malgin
Mike Matheson -- Aaron Ekblad
Mark Pysyk -- Anton Stralman
Keith Yandle -- Josh Brown
Sergei Bobrovsky
Sam Montembeault
Scratched: Riley Stillman
Injured: MacKenzie Weegar (upper body), Chris Driedger (lower body), Aleksander Barkov (lower body)
Maple Leafs projected lineup
Zach Hyman -- Auston Matthews -- Mitchell Marner
Alexander Kerfoot -- John Tavares -- William Nylander
Andreas Johnsson -- Pierre Engvall -- Kasperi Kapanen
Trevor Moore -- Frederik Gauthier -- Jason Spezza
Travis Dermott -- Tyson Barrie
Jake Muzzin -- Justin Holl
Rasmus Sandin -- Cody Ceci
Frederik Andersen
Michael Hutchinson
Scratched: Dmytro Timashov, Martin Marincin
Injured: Ilya Mikheyev (wrist laceration), Morgan Rielly (fractured foot)
Status report
Hawryluk and Malgin are expected to play after each were scratched Saturday. ... Dermott, who sat out the game Saturday with food poisoning, took line rushes alongside Barrie at the morning skate but will be a game-time decision.
Stat pack
The Panthers have won six of their past seven games, scoring at least four goals in each victory. ... Stralman will play his 800th NHL game. ... Hyman has nine points (four goals, five assists) in his past seven games.