FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- The Florida Panthers were without a trio of injured players Monday night as the Carolina Hurricanes pushed the Eastern Conference finals to a Game 5.
Top-line forward Sam Reinhart missed his second straight game with a lower-body injury suffered on a hit from Carolina center Sebastian Aho in Game 2.
Defenseman Niko Mikkola missed Game 4 after slamming his shoulder hard into the end boards midway through the third period of Florida's Game 3 win. Fourth-line forward A.J. Greer, who was also injured in Game 3, was out of the lineup as well.
Florida coach Paul Maurice said all three players are "day-to-day."
"I would expect, hopefully, at some point in this series they'll be able to come back in," he said. "But the determination is the three guys that I put in will perform better than those men would tonight."
The Panthers were looking to sweep the Hurricanes in the conference finals for the second time in three seasons and advance to their third straight Stanley Cup Final.
Game 5 is Wednesday in Raleigh.
