The latest on Barkov. And Tkachuk also out as Panthers continue road trip vs Sabres

Captain and top-line center Aleksander Barkov (lower body) is out for the Florida Panthers’ road game against the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday.

Barkov was injured in the final minutes of Florida’s 3-1 loss to the Ottawa Senators on Thursday when he crashed feet first into the board trying to defend an empty net. He stayed down for a couple minutes while being tended to by a trainer before being helped off the ice by teammates Evan Rodrigues and Uvis Balinskis.

But he’s not the only Panthers star sidelined on Saturday. Star winger Matthew Tkachuk also will not play against the Sabres due to illness.

Panthers coach Paul Maurice told reporters in Buffalo that Barkov will be out the next two-to-three weeks. Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reported Saturday morning that Barkov did not sustain a fracture.

With Barkov out, the Panthers recalled rookie forward Patrick Giles, who will draw into the lineup and make his NHL debut on Saturday. Forward Tomas Nosek, who sustained an upper-body injury early in training camp, was moved to long-term injured reserve to give the Panthers enough salary cap space to call up Giles.

But even with the addition of Giles, Florida will only have 11 forwards active on Saturday with Tkachuk out.

The Panthers will use seven defensemen in the lineup.

Barkov’s absence also has Maurice reconfiguring his forward lines. Florida had an optional morning skate on Saturday so the team did not have full line rushes, so the exact lines won’t be known until game time.

However, Maurice has a few ways he will likely assemble his lineup.

The most likely, however, starts with reuniting the line of Eetu Luostarinen, Anton Lundell and Sam Reinhart.

Florida’s second line most likely will be Sam Bennett centering Carter Verhaeghe and Evan Rodrigues, while Jesper Boqvist would center A.J. Greer and Mackie Samoskevich. That would leave Giles and Jonah Gadjovich in to-be-determined roles.

In other Panthers news, Spencer Knight is in net and defenseman Adam Boqvist is back in the lineup after missing Thursday’s game against Ottawa.