Ice Chips: Panthers' Verhaeghe to return vs. Leafs

Florida Panthers

Forward Carter Verhaeghe will be in the lineup for the Florida Panthers when they host the Toronto Maple Leafs Tuesday night, head coach Paul Maurice said.

Verhaeghe, 28, suffered an upper-body injury against Toronto on April 1 and was originally expected to return to the lineup for Game 1 of the playoffs.

The Toronto native has 33 goals and 38 assists in 75 games this season.

Maurice also indicated that defenceman Oliver Ekman-Larsson will not be available against the Leafs. "He could, but there's no sense in putting him in," Maurice said.

Ekman-Larsson last played on April 13 and has nine goals, 23 helpers and a plus-10 rating in 80 games this season.

Anthony Stolarz will get the start in net for Florida. He is 15-7-2 with a 2.03 goals-against average and .926 save percentage in 26 appearances in 2023-24.

The Panthers still have a chance to overtake the Boston Bruins for first place in the Atlantic Division.

Projected lineup vs. Leafs as per TSN's Mark Masters:

Tarasenko - Barkov - Reinhart 
Verhaeghe - Bennett - Tkachuk 
Luostarinen - Lundell - Rodrigues 
Gadjovich - Stenlund - Cousins 

Forsling - Montour 
Mikkola - Balinskis 
Mahura - Kulikov 

Stolarz starts 

Toronto Maple Leafs

Projected lineup vs. Panthers as per TSN's Mark Masters:

Bertuzzi - Matthews - Marner 
Knies - Tavares - Nylander 
Robertson - Holmberg - Gregor
Dewar - Kampf - Reaves

Rielly - Lyubushkin 
Benoit - McCabe 
Edmundson - Liljegren 

Woll starts 

Winnipeg Jets

The Winnipeg Jets hold the second spot in the Central Division entering Tuesday's contest at home against the Seattle Kraken.

Winnipeg can clinch the two spot and home ice advantage against the Colorado Avalanche in the first round with a single point in tonight's game.

Forward Nino Niederreiter is expected to return for the Jets after missing the last five games due to a lacerated left Achillies tendon, TSN's John Lu reports.

Projected lineup vs. Kraken as per TSN's John Lu:

Connor - Scheifele - Vilardi
Ehlers - Monahan - Toffoli
*Niederreiter* - Lowry - Appleton
Barron - Namestnikov - Iafallo

Morrissey - DeMelo
Dillon - Pionk
Stanley - Samberg

Hellebuyck
Brossoit

Scratches: Gustafsson, Kupari, Schmidt, Miller

Vancouver Canucks

The Vancouver Canucks look to solidify their hold on the top spot in the Pacific Division when they host the Calgary Flames Tuesday.

Netminder Thatcher Demko will return after missing more than a month due to injury.

Projected lineup for Canucks as per TSN's Farhan Lalji:

Suter-Miller-Boeser
Höglander-Pettersson-Mikheyev
Joshua-Lindholm-Garland
Podkolzin-Blueger-Lafferty

Hughes-Hronek
Soucy-Myers
Zadorov-Cole
Extras: Friedman-Juulsen

Demko
DeSmith