After all, the Florida Panthers got their guy to their All-Star Game.
Panthers captain Sasha Barkov was named to his All-Star second team Friday morning and will participate in the South Florida event next week.
Coincidentally, Barkov’s other All-Star appearance also came at Sunshine State when he made the team at Tampa Bay in 2018.
Barkov joins Matthew Tkachuk on the team, as both will participate in the skills competition (February 3) and the game (February 4) at FLA Live Arena in Sunrise.
He replaces Auston Matthews of the Toronto Maple Leafs, who will miss at least three weeks with a sprained knee.
Matthews was one of three players (David Pastrnak and Andrei Vasilevskei) who were chosen for the squad last week.
The full list of all 44 NHL All-Stars can be found here.
This hasn’t been the easiest season for Barkov, having missed a large chunk of games with what his father said was pneumonia, but of late he’s picked up his game and arrives tonight with 13 goals and 43 points in 40 games. .
Lately, Barkov has been on fire.
He enters tonight’s game against the Los Angeles Kings riding a nine-point streak with four goals and 13 points. With a point tonight, he would set a career high for consecutive games with a point.
Last year, after losing the fan vote to go to Las Vegas for All-Star weekend, Barkov said he wasn’t upset about not going.
“It’s a good time to relax and stay home with my family,” Barkov said last year. “They are all here, so I can stay here with them for a while. I’ll relax, I’ll work out, I’ll go to the beach, whatever. It’s going to be a nice little break.”
Now, his rest will come at home, in the All-Star Game.
Atlantic Division (All-Star appearances)
F Nikita Kucherov, Tampa Bay Lightning (4th)
F Dylan Larkin, Detroit Red Wings (3rd)
F Mitchell Marner, Toronto Maple Leafs (2nd)
Sasha BarkovFlorida Panthers (2nd)
F David Pastrnak, Boston Bruins (3rd)
F Nick Suzuki, Montreal Canadiens (2nd)
F Tage Thompson, Buffalo Sabers (1st)
F Brady Tkachuk, Ottawa Senators (3rd)
F Matthew TkachukFlorida Panthers (2nd)
G Andrei Vasilevskiy, Tampa Bay Lightning (4th)
Linus Ullmark, Boston Bruins (first)
PANTHERS ON DECK
THE KINGS OF LOS ANGELES IN THE FLORIDA PANTHERS
- When: Friday, 7 p.m.
- Where: FLA Live Arena, Sunrise
- Television/Broadcast: Bally Florida Sports; ESPN+
- Radio: WPOW 96.5-FM2; WBZT 1230-AM (Palm Beach); WCTH 100.3-FM (Florida Keys); SiriusXM
- Streaming of Radio Panteras: SiriusXM 932
- Last season: Los Angeles won 2-0
- This season, Los Angeles leads 1-0: Kings 5, Panthers 4 (November 5)
- All-time regular season series: Los Angeles leads 24-14-0, 3 ties
