Quick hits on how Panthers lineup is shaping up. And how to watch preseason games

The Florida Panthers are about halfway through training camp and will play their fourth of eight preseason games on Friday when they travel to play the Carolina Hurricanes.

With that, let’s check in on how the potential roster for Opening Night on Oct. 8 against the Boston Bruins is looking...

▪ Forwards: The Panthers’ top two forward lines are all but established. Captain Aleksander Barkov is centering the top line with Carter Verhaeghe and Sam Reinhart on his wings, while Sam Bennett centers the second line with Evan Rodrigues and Matthew Tkachuk.

Left wing Eetu Luostarinen and center Anton Lundell will be two of three players on the third line. Who plays on the right wing is a bit of a mystery right now. Mackie Samoskevich and Justin Sourdif were slated to be the top candidates, but Samoskevich hasn’t been a full participant in camp due to an upper-body injury and Sourdif is now week-to-week with an upper-body injury after crashing hard into the boards during practice on Tuesday. Jesper Boqvist on Friday took line rushes with Luostarinen and Lundell. Sandis Vilmanis has also gotten reps with the duo.

As for the fourth line, the original plan appeared to be Tomas Nosek centering A.J. Greer and Boqvist. But Nosek is unlikely to be ready for Opening Night after sustaining an upper-body injury in the second game of Florida’s doubleheader against the Nashville Predators on Sunday. Patrick Giles and Zac Dalpe are the main candidates to hold down that fourth-line center spot in Nosek’s absence. And if Boqvist slides up to the third line, Jonah Gadjovich can be the fourth line right winger.

▪ Defensemen: Four mainstays from last season return in Gustav Forsling, Aaron Ekblad, Niko Mikkola and Dmitry Kulikov. It would appear that Adam Boqvist and Nate Schmidt have the inside track for the final two lineup spots because of their expected roles on special teams (more on that in a second). That leaves the likes of Uvis Balinskis, Tobias Bjornfot and (to an extent) Jaycob Megna and Matt Kiersted competing for either one or two roster spots depending on how many extra defensemen Florida decides to carry on its roster.

▪ Goaltenders: Sergei Bobrovsky is the starter. That’s established. The backup spot is going to either Spencer Knight or Chris Driedger, and the early returns would suggest Knight has the inside track. He was stellar against Nashville on Sunday, stopping all 19 shots he faced, and is going to be in net Friday against a Hurricanes lineup that will feature most of its regulars — a test that coach Paul Maurice wants to see if Knight can handle.

Special teams

There will be a couple changes to Florida’s special teams units.

Maurice said Lundell will get the first crack to replace Kevin Stenlund on the Panthers’ top penalty killing forward duo with Eetu Luostarinen. The combination makes sense considering how in sync Lundell and Luostarinen are. Barkov and Reinhart should remain as the second group. Florida returns all of its defensemen who they primarily used on the penalty kill in Forsling, Ekblad, Mikkola and Kulikov.

As for the power play, Florida needs to replace the defenseman on both of its units.

So far in camp, Adam Boqvist has run the top unit that features Barkov, Reinhart, Tkachuk and Verhaeghe. Schmidt, meanwhile, has been the quarterback of the second unit that also has Bennett, Rodrigues, Lundell and Ekblad.

How and where to watch preseason games

The Panthers’ preseason game on Friday marks the first of four preseason games that will be available to watch on Scripps Sports or to stream on the Panthers Plus app.

Scripps Sports is available to watch on the following stations:

▪ In Miami-Dade and Broward: WSFL TV Channel 39

▪ In Palm Beach and the Treasure Coast: WHDT TV (Channel 9)

▪ In Fort Myers and Southwest Florida: WFTX TV (Channel 36)

The Panthers have compiled a full list of channel numbers based on your cable company here.

The Panthers will also be streaming each of their next four games — Friday at Carolina, Saturday at home against Carolina, Monday at home against the Tampa Bay Lightning and Wednesday at Tampa — on their Panthers Plus app for free.

The app can be viewed on web browser, iOS, AppleTV, Roku and Amazon Fire TV. Additional platforms Android, Samsung TV and LG TV are expected to be announced and added in the coming weeks.

For streaming during the regular season, fans can purchase a full-season pass (70 games, plus the first round of the playoffs should the Panthers qualify) for $69.99. Games on Panthers Plus will only be available within the Panthers regional broadcast area. Also, the 12 Panthers games that are shown exclusively on national television (ESPN, ESPN+ and TNT) will not be available to stream on the app.