Panthers' Aleksander Barkov: Out as expected Thursday

Barkov (upper body) will not play Thursday against the Blues, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports.

Analysis:

Florida has encountered 194 man games lost this campaign, and this will be the fourth straight absence for the power-play pivot as the result of the upper-body ailment. There's still a chance that Barkov will end up missing the balance of the regular season, amounting to three games.