Why Aleksander Barkov didn’t play final minutes of Panthers’ overtime loss to Ducks

Captain and top-line center Aleksander Barkov did not play in the final 5:47 of regulation or the 48 seconds of overtime in the Florida Panthers’ 5-4 loss to the Anaheim Ducks on Monday due to what coach Paul Maurice described as a lower-body injury that tightened up on him during the game.

“He’s been dealing with something that we don’t want it to get worse,” Maurice said. “And it didn’t. I think we got him [out] early enough.”

Maurice said he anticipates Barkov being available on Wednesday when the Panthers host the Detroit Red Wings for the fourth game of their five-game homestand that wraps up on Friday against the Minnesota Wild.

“We work on this together,” Maurice said. “Between the trainer and Sasha and I, we know what it looks like going into the game. I would say ‘Fine [you can play], but you’re not letting this thing get worse.’”

Maurice said Barkov first pointed out that the injury began to “tighten a bit” in the first period and then it got to a point in the third period that Maurice took him out of the game to avoid the injury from worsening.

“I said, ‘He’s out as soon as he can’t go,” Maurice said.

Barkov played 17:13 on Monday, the fourth-most ice time among Panthers forwards against the Ducks.

In 40 games this season, Barkov has a team-high 35 assists to go along with 11 goals. Barkov missed three games earlier this season and has worn a full face shield the past five games after taking an inadvertent elbow to the face against the Vegas Golden Knights on Jan. 4.

With Barkov out to end the game, the Panthers went with their second line of Sam Bennett, Matthew Tkachuk and Carter Verhaeghe to start the three-on-three overtime period, which ended 48 seconds later when Anaheim’s Alex Killorn scored the game-winning goal.