Barkov has been named team captain for Finland’s squad that will take part in next month’s 4 Nations Face-Off. “It's a huge honor,” Barkov said Thursday, following the announcement. “I'm really thankful for that opportunity to be a captain of the national team, and can't wait to can't wait to get going in the tournament.”

“I’m playing with my food here a little bit,” the Florida Panthers’ veteran coach said.

Barkov will lead fellow Finnish Cats Anton Lundell, Eetu Luostarinen and Niko Mikkola at tournament from Feb. 12-20

Florida Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov was named captain of Finland's 4 Nations Face-Off team on Thursday.

The Panthers have eight players total slated to participate in the tournament: Four for Finland (Barkov, Anton Lundell, Eetu Luostarinen and Niko Mikkola), two for Canada (Sam Reinhart and Sam Bennett), one for the United States (Matthew Tkachuk) and one for Sweden (Gustav Forsling).

With the Panthers earning nine seconds of a 5-on-3 power play early in the third period, Aleksander Barkov made the most out of that limited time by winning a faceoff draw in the offensive zone, going to the net and scoring to make it 2-0 at 4:43.

The Florida Panthers come home from a long road trip as they face the Los Angeles Kinga. It is time to continue our NHL odds series with a Kings-Panthers prediction and pick. The Kings come into the game at 26-15-6 on the year,

Call it a mixed bag for the Florida Panthers on their West Coast trip. The Panthers went 2-2-0 in their four games out west, beating the Anaheim Ducks 5-2 on Tuesday, falling to the Los Angeles Kings 2-1 on Wednesday, winning against the San Jose Sharks 7-2 on Saturday and losing to the Vegas Golden Knights 4-1 on Sunday.

Rookie Mackie Samoskevich has been playing quite well and may have earned himself a longer look in the top six

Adin Hill made 32 saves, Tanner Pearson had his first game-winning goal of the season and the Vegas Golden Knights beat the Florida Panthers 4-1 on Sunday night.

The Panthers, who have won four of their last six, erased an early one-goal deficit with six unanswered goals to coast past the host San Jose Sharks.

Closing out the scoring explosion in the second period, Sam Reinhart took a tap pass from Tkachuk, who went flying through the slot to make it happen, and fired a shot into the back of the cage to put the Panthers up 7-2 at 16:25. In the third period, the Panthers shut the door.