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The Florida Panthers finished their Game 3 Eastern Conference Final victory over the Carolina Hurricanes without Sam Reinhart or Niko Mikkola — but both players could be back in the lineup on Monday night, head coach Paul Maurice confirmed.
Reinhart didn't play in Game 3 after suffering a lower-body injury on a hit from Canes forward Sebastian Aho in Game 2. With a 3-0 stranglehold in the series, it wouldn't be overly surprising if the star forward sat for Game 4 — especially as a win would give the team around a week off before the start of the Stanley Cup Final.
“He is not cleared, but he hasn’t been ruled out either,” Maurice said on Sunday, per NHL.com's George Richards. “I know that sounds a little ambiguous, but it’s not. That’s exactly where he’s at. We are hopeful that it’s not long term, and I mean he is day to day and I don’t think it’s going to move out that way. He still has to get back on the ice. There are some steps here.”
Reinhart led the Panthers in scoring in the regular season with 81 points, and has chipped in another four goals and 11 points over 14 Stanley Cup Playoff games. Along with team captain Sasha Barkov, he's a finalist for the Selke Trophy as the league's best defensive forward.
As for Mikkola, he was a catalyst of Saturday's 6-2 triumph, scoring two goals before crashing into the boards and leaving the game in the third period. Maurice expects him to be good to go for the potential series-clincher on Monday, along with AJ Greer, who was also injured in the contest.
“I think we will know by the morning skate, but I think everybody is going to be ready to go [Monday],” said the bench boss, per Richards. “We’re still waiting on Sam Reinhart; I will have an answer for you tomorrow. I don’t think that’s a game-timer for us. We’ll decide in the morning skate who is playing. I will have all of that for you tomorrow.”
Mikkola has been terrific for Florida in the East Final; he's up to four points in three games after managing just one goal over 12 games against the Tampa Bay Lightning and Toronto Maple Leafs, respectively.
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Panthers 1 win away from 3rd straight Finals trip
Even with a banged up roster, the Panthers have absolutely dominated the Hurricanes in the East Final. Florida holds a commanding 3-0 series lead and has outscored Carolina 16-3 through the first three tilts.
At this point, it would take nothing short of a miracle for the Canes to win four straight, especially considering they have played in four conference finals dating back to 2009, and haven't won a single game.
Game 3 was the closest Carolina got to a victory; they were the better team in the second period and the score was knotted 1-1 after 40 minutes. But Florida turned up the heat in the third, scoring five times in the first 10:37 of the final frame to turn a close game into a rout.
Now just a single victory away from back-to-back-to-back trips to the Stanley Cup Final, the Cats will be locked in on finishing the job on Monday night. They'd love to not have to go back to Raleigh, North Carolina for a Game 5.
Puck is set to drop on Game 4 just past 8:00 p.m. ET from Sunrise on Monday night.
