Aleksander Barkov talks Sam Reinhart, Cousins talks lineup return and more Panthers notes

There was little surprise when Florida Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov won his second career Selke Trophy, given annually to the NHL’s best two-way forward.

What might have come as a surprise: Sam Reinhart, his Panthers teammate, garnered the second-most first-place votes for the award.

Barkov was first on 165 of 194 ballots. Reinhart, who finished fourth overall received 12 first-place votes. No one else received more than four first-place votes.

“Ever since he came here,” Barkov said, “he’s been just one of those perfect players that can do it all.”

That was evident this season. In addition to scoring a franchise-record 57 goals in the regular-season — second only to Toronto’s Auston Matthews — Reinhart was stellar on the defensive end. The Panthers controlled 57.61 percent of shot attempts when Reinhart was on the ice at 5-on-5, outscoring opponents 58-33. He also that the third-most short-handed ice time in the regular season among Panthers forwards (176:08) and scored five short-handed goals, one shy of the Panthers’ single-season franchise record.

“Almost rarely do you talk about defensive chemistry,” Panthers coach Paul Maurice said Monday, ahead of the Panthers’ Eastern Conference final series against the New York Rangers that starts Wednesday. “You just throw it into the bucket of hard work. ‘OK, they work hard, so they’re good defensive players.’ The reads, the sticks, the times on the penalty kill to be aggressive or not be aggressive. [Barkov and Reinhart] are equally gifted offensively and defensively. It’s a very rare thing.”

Nick Cousins on return to lineup

The message Nick Cousins got ahead of Game 3 against the Boston Bruins was a simple one.

“Just to stay ready,” Cousins said Monday. “Stay positive. That’s what I’ve been doing.”

Cousins was the casualty in Florida’s lineup in that game when Sam Bennett returned from his five-game absence due to a hand/wrist injury after playing in each of the Panthers’ first seven games. Maurice opted to keep Steven Lorentz and Kyle Okposo in the lineup for Games 3-5 before returning in Game 6.

“There’s no ego in this room,” Cousins said. “We all want the same thing: To win. ... When it’s my turn, I’m just trying to go in there and create some energy.”

Lineup notables

Maurice kept his forward lines the same as they were at the end of the series-clinching Game 6 against the Boston Bruins.

That includes having Anton Lundell, who scored the game-tying goal and assisted on the game-winner, with Carter Verhaeghe and Matthew Tkachuk on the second line and leaving Bennett as the center of the third line with Eetu Luostarinen and Evan Rodrigues on the wings.

Lundell played with Verhaeghe and Tkachuk for five games when Bennett was sidelined with injury. When Bennett returned for Game 3 against Boston, Maurice had moved lines back to their usual configuration — Bennett on the second line, Lundell on the third — before seeing the spark that Lundell created in Game 6.

“The thing you learn in a person, perhaps the most important thing, is in the playoffs,’’ Maurice said. “You lose Sam Bennett, Lundell goes in. Verhaeghe and Tkachuk take off. Then, Benny comes back, we win the next two, ‘why would you change it?’ Lundell is on fire, he is playing a different game now that I have ever seen him play. When Lundell scored his goal, Verhaeghe and Tkachuk were on the ice. So we just let those run. Benny is fine, but he just missed five playoff games. He is just coming back into form.’’