Midway through the second period of the Florida Panthers-Toronto Maple Leafs game on Wednesday night, Aleksander Barkov disappeared from the bench and would not return. The 21-year old sniper is one of Florida’s few bright spots this season, following up his 59 point season with 27 in his first 35 games.
In his absence, Nick Bjugstad has been promoted to the top line. Hopefully it’ll spark the 24-year old, who only has two points this season. After three successful campaigns and in the second year of his six-year deal, Bjugstad has been a disaster. Injury and ineffectiveness have stolen the first part of the year, though perhaps skating with Jaromir Jagr will turn it around.
Heading into the third period in Pittsburgh with his team down 2-1, Matt Murray was replaced by Marc-Andre Fleury in net with no explanation from the team (in fact, the team’s Twitter account was at a loss for words). While there was contact on an earlier goal by Lee Stempniak, Murray finished the period.
After missing the first part of the season with a broken hand, he’s come back just as strong as ever. A .928 save percentage, 2.14 goals against average and a 13-3-1 record has Murray among league leaders again in his sophomore season. If he misses any more time, it only makes the Pittsburgh decision on whether to keep both goaltenders through the expansion draft even harder.
Hopefully Barkov’s injury is not serious. This team does not need another major blow.