Florida Panthers injury: Aleksander Barkov, Sam Reinhart availability update against Toronto Maple Leafs

Florida Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov, forward Sam Reinhart and defenseman Gustav Forsling will reportedly be on the roster for Tuesday’s game against the Toronto Maple Leafs.

TSN reporter Mark Masters posted an update on X (formerly Twitter).

“So it looks like Barkov, Reinhart & Forsling are all trending toward playing tonight against Leafs,” the post read.

Barkov, the team’s No. 1 center, has missed three games for the Panthers, while Reinhart and Forsling did not feature in Sunday’s 2-1 loss to the Detroit Red Wings.

The Panthers are also without Matthew Tkachuk, who was placed on LTIR and Aaron Ekblad, who was slapped with a 20-game suspension for testing positive for steroids, at least till the playoffs begin.

Team coach Paul Maurice addressed the issue of extensive player injuries.

"You always want every advantage that you can possibly get - home ice and all that," Maurice said via NHL.com. "But we've got to heal some of these guys, and we've got to give ourselves a chance to be physically right when it starts."

Sunday's loss has the Panthers on a five-game skid. This awful run of form has seen them slip from the top of the Atlantic Division to within two points of the Ottawa Senators in the first wild-card spot. They also lost 3-2 to the Toronto Maple Leafs on Wednesday.

Aleksander Barkov, Sam Reinhart join morning skate on Tuesday

Aleksander Barkov, Sam Reinhart, Gustav Forsling and Panthers’ players Sam Bennett, Nico Sturm and Dmitry Kulikov participated in the team’s Tuesday morning practice.

TSN analyst Mark Masters also reported that Sturm and Bennett were not practicing line rushes. None of the players mentioned above played in Sunday’s game.

Alex DeBrincat and J.T. Compher scored for the Red Wings during Sunday’s game and their goalie made 32 saves as the Red Wings edged the Panthers 2-1.

Paul Maurice chose to look at the positive side of the Panthers’ recent losses, which had a one-goal margin or were won in overtime.

"We're not scoring goals? I don't care," Maurice said via NHL.com. "We want to be in tight games. … If we can maintain our structure right now, then we'll look at this as being a really good thing for us, because that's all we're talking about is the hard parts of our defensive structure, and it's been good to the point that we can survive in a game."

The Panthers have already secured a playoff berth.