Panthers make several major lineup changes for Game 6

The Panthers do not want to head back to Florida for Game 7. When they’re headed home, they want it to be with the Stanley Cup in tow and the series against the Edmonton Oilers in six contests.

After losing Games 4 and 5, the Panthers are shuffling lines and make a significant change to their power-play unit ahead of tonight’s Game 6 in Edmonton.

Head coach Paul Maurice decided to alter his defense on the man advantage, as Oliver Ekman-Larsson joined the team’s top unit in practice on Thursday in what had been Brandon Montour’s spot throughout the majority of the postseason.

Some changes were also made to the forward lines as wingers Carter Verhaeghe and Evan Rodrigues switched spots, as the former moved to the top line with Aleksander Barkov and Sam Reinhart while the latter skated with Sam Bennett and Matthew Tkachuk.

Veteran forward Kyle Okposo, who has been used on the fourth line, will be a healthy scratch for tonight. Nick Cousins takes his spot. He makes his Final debut and sees his first game action in 26 days.

Florida Panthers projected Game 6 lineup:

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

Forsling - Ekblad
Mikkola - Montour
Ekman-Larsson - Kulikov

Bobrovsky starts
Stolarz