Barkov and the Panthers are cleared for takeoff to Finland after captain returns to lineup

BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — Aleksander Barkov and the Florida Panthers are cleared for takeoff.

The Panthers captain celebrated his return to the lineup after missing eight games with a lower-body injury by scoring his first goal of the season and adding an assist in a 5-2 win over the Buffalo Sabres on Monday night. Just as exciting for Barkov was the opportunity to join the Panthers as they jet off to Finland, where the Stanley Cup champions will play a two-game series against Dallas this weekend in the captain’s hometown of Tampere.

“I’m not looking forward to the flight, but yeah, I mean, we’re going to the great place,” Barkov said of the 9-hour flight. “It’s going to be a one-of-a-kind experience for sure.”

And whatever fears — if any — Barkov had of the injury preventing him from making the trip have been forgotten.

“I feel like it was so long ago,” he said of getting hurt in the final minute of a 3-1 loss at Ottawa on Oct. 10, when he crashed into the end boards after attempting to prevent Tim Stutzle from scoring an empty-net goal.

“It didn’t feel good. But then literally, like in the next 30 minutes, I started feeling better,” said Barkov, who began skating a week later. “So I was confident about coming back as soon as possible.”

Though the Panthers went 5-2-1 in Barkov’s absence, they were pleased to welcome back their top-line center, who is regarded as one of the NHL’s top two-way forwards.

“He’s probably the best player in the world, so of course it’s huge for this team,” Jesper Boqvist said. “You saw it tonight. It’s so fun watching him every day.”

After Boqvist opened the scoring 11:01 into the first period, Barkov attracted two defenders while driving behind the Sabres’ net before setting up Sam Reinhart for an easy tap-in 55 seconds later. Barkov then capped the scoring by driving the right circle and snapping a shot inside the far post with 4:17 left.

He finished with 19 1/2 minutes of ice time, including shifts on the power-play and penalty-killing units. The only scare came with about a minute left in the first period when Barkov appeared to be in pain on the bench after getting tangled up with Sabres defenseman Owen Power.

“No, I was OK. I don’t even remember that,” Barkov said.

Barkov’s return had a ripple effect, providing balance across the Panthers’ lineup. Sam Bennett resumed his role centering the second line, with Anton Lundell centering the third unit.

“It just changes so many things, the impact when he’s on the ice,” coach Paul Maurice said. “There’s a lot of responsibility that Barky takes on seamlessly every night, but it changes our matchup, too, even on the road, so it makes running the bench quite a bit easier.”

Barkov’s return followed that of forward Matthew Tkachuk, who played his fourth game after missing five with an illness. The only key regular the Panthers are missing is forward Tomas Nosek, who remains sidelined by an upper-body injury sustained in a preseason game last month.