Maurice: Reinhart, Mikkola, Greer considered day-to-day
The Florida Panthers will be without three players as they look to sweep the Carolina Hurricanes out of the Eastern Conference Final on Monday.
Head coach Paul Maurice announced star forward Sam Reinhart, defenseman Niko Mikkola, and winger A.J. Greer are all considered day-to-day and won't play in Game 4, according to beat reporter Jameson Olive.
Maurice added he expects the trio to return later in the series if it extends past Monday night.
Reinhart will miss his second straight contest after suffering a lower-body injury off a hit from Hurricanes forward Sebastian Aho in the first period of Game 2.
The Panthers went on to win the clash 5-0 before cruising to a 6-2 victory in Game 3 despite missing their leading scorer. Reinhart paced Florida in both goals (39) and points (81) in the regular season and has 11 points in 14 games in these playoffs.
Mikkola left during the third period of Game 3 following an awkward crash into the boards.
Maurice previously sounded optimistic about the rearguard's status for Game 4, but Mikkola will sit with Florida on the verge of its third straight Stanley Cup Final appearance. He scored two goals in Game 3, bringing his postseason total to five points in 15 matchups while averaging 19:19 minutes of ice time.
Greer was also injured late in Game 3. He's added two goals and one assist in 11 outings in these playoffs.
Jesper Boqvist will fill in for Reinhart for the second straight game. He was outstanding during Saturday's victory, chipping in with a goal and two helpers. Uvis Balinskis and Nico Sturm will draw in for Mikkola and Greer, respectively.
"The determination is the three guys that I'm playing - obviously, Boqvist is already in - but those guys would perform better than those three men would tonight," Maurice said.
The puck drops on the contest at 8 p.m. ET in Florida.