One Panthers regular out for Game 1 of Stanley Cup Final. How the lineup should look
The Florida Panthers will be without one of their regulars for Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final against the Edmonton Oilers on Wednesday.
Forward A.J. Greer is out as he continues to deal with an undisclosed injury. Jesper Boqvist will take his place in the lineup as the left wing on Florida's fourth line with Tomas Nosek at center and Jonah Gadjovich on the right wing.
Greer had been banged up for most of the Panthers' Eastern Conference final series against the Carolina Hurricanes, which Florida won in five games.
He missed the final 4:02 of Game 3 after appearing to tighten something up late in that game, a 6-2 Florida win. He did not play at all in Game 4 and then exited the Panthers' 5-3 series-clinching win in Game 5 early in the third period, not taking the ice for the final 18:35 of the contest.
Through 12 postseason games, Greer has three points (two goals, one assist) in addition to logging 45 hits while averaging just 7:47 of ice time.
This is the third time in the past nine playoff games that Boqvist will draw into the lineup for an injured teammate. He did so in Games 5 and 6 of the second round against the Toronto Maple Leafs when Evan Rodrigues was sidelined and again in Games 3 and 4 of the Eastern Conference final for Sam Reinhart. In those four games, Boqvist produced five points (two goals, three assists).
But the Panthers are no strangers to mixing and matching with their lineup, especially with their fourth line.
'Just good hockey players, guys who can step in and step up when we need them to,' Rodrigues said. 'High hockey IQ guys too that can play all over the lineup that can do multiple roles. They've done a great job so far.'
Florida's lineup should look as follows for Game 1 on Wednesday...
Forward lines
Evan Rodrigues-Aleksander Barkov-Sam Reinhart
Carter Verhaeghe-Sam Bennett-Matthew Tkachuk
Eetu Luostarinen-Anton Lundell-Brad Marchand
Jesper Boqvist-Tomas Nosek-Jonah Gadjovich
Defense pairs
Gustav Forsling-Aaron Ekblad
Niko Mikkola-Seth Jones
Nate Schmidt-Dmitry Kulikov
Goaltenders
Sergei Bobrovsky
Vitek Vanecek
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