Aleksander Barkov will have an MRI later today, and the Florida Panthers are now listing their captain as day-to-day with a leg injury.
Pierre LeBrun reported the imaging plan this morning, hours after Barkov left Thursday night in San Jose and never returned in a 4-3 overtime loss.
"Barkov will get MRI done later today."
Day-to-day is the label every team slaps on a player before the pictures come back. It buys time. It doesn't tell you much.
Paul Maurice already drew one line in the sand. The bench boss said the injury is unrelated to last year's, and said the club would have a good idea by the afternoon.
So the timeline is tight. The scan happens today, the answers follow, and puck drop in Anaheim comes Sunday night.
Why does that matter so much? Because Florida isn't dealing with just one problem on this road trip.
Gustav Forsling is also on the shelf as Florida's injury list grows
Gustav Forsling is listed day-to-day with an upper-body injury and is expected to be out until at least Sunday. He didn't dress Thursday.
That one stings on its own. The defenseman scored the overtime winner in Carolina to open the season, a 1-0 win that's still Florida's lone victory.
Now the Panthers could walk into Anaheim missing their captain up front and their opening-night hero on the back end.
Dr. Harjas Grewal's read on the replay remains the cloud over all of this. He flagged inward stress on the knee and pointed to a likely MCL tear.
Grade matters there. Grewal noted grade 2 versions often run four to six weeks, with an ACL or meniscus issue also in play.
Watching a team wait on an MRI is a bit like sitting in a hospital hallway while someone you love is in for tests. Everybody's polite. Nobody's relaxed.
Florida still sits first in its division at 1-0-1. That cushion means nothing if the lineup that built it starts coming apart in the first week.
Eetu Luostarinen has 2 goals through two games, and he'll be asked for more. So will Anton Lundell, who's still looking for his first goal.
Here's where this gets real. If Barkov's scan shows anything structural, Bill Zito shouldn't let the Panthers talk themselves into a quick return just to chase early points.
Florida has been to enough springs to know when the real games start. October isn't it.
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The pictures come back today. What Maurice says after it will decide whether Sunday is a speed bump or the start of something much longer.
If Aleksander Barkov's MRI shows structural damage, should the Panthers shut him down until November?
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