Florida Panthers' captain Aleksander Barkov will be back in the lineup for Game 4 of the Eastern Conference finals Wednesday after leaving the first period of Game 3 with a lower-body injury.

All-Star forward Aleksander Barkov should be back on the ice soon, maybe very soon, and that news brought a collective sigh of relief from the Florida Panthers.

It isn't totally certain if the Panthers' captain will play in a potentially series-clinching Game 4 of the Eastern Conference finals against the Carolina Hurricanes on Wednesday night. He left Game 3 in the first period with a lower-body injury.

The Carolina Hurricanes will get a lineup boost for Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals, as winger Teuvo Teravainen is expected to return from injury.

Teravainen, 28, broke his hand on a slash from New York Islanders forward Jean-Gabriel Pageau in Game 2 of their first-round series. He had surgery to repair the hand and missed the remainder of that series and the Hurricanes' six-game second-round series win over the New Jersey Devils.

Teuvo Teravainen's roughly monthlong injury absence appears to be near an end.

The Hurricanes forward has shed his no-contact jersey and participated in a full practice Monday ahead of the Eastern Conference Final against the Panthers. 

It's unclear exactly when he might be ready to play, though his return would be a lift for a team that has kept advancing despite injuries to top-line forwards.

"I think I'm pretty much ready to go," Teravainen said after Monday's practice. "So whenever Coach puts me out there, I'll be good."

Colorado Avalanche forward and captain Gabriel Landeskog, who missed all of this season after knee surgery, is having another procedure on his right knee and is expected to miss the 2023-24 regular season, the team announced Tuesday.

Landeskog will have a cartilage transplant in his right knee, and the procedure will be performed Wednesday by Dr. Brian Cole at the Rush University Medical Center in Chicago.

Maple Leafs starting goaltender Ilya Samsonov left Game 3 of Toronto's Eastern Conference second-round series against the Florida Panthers on Sunday after suffering an injury early in the second period and did not return.

Maple Leafs coach Sheldon Keefe had no update on Samsonov following the game. Toronto fell 3-2 to Florida in overtime, putting them in a 3-0 series deficit.

The Toronto Maple Leafs will be without rookie forward Matthew Knies for at least the next two games because of a concussion, coach Sheldon Keefe said Friday.

Knies was injured in Thursday night's 3-2 loss to the visiting Florida Panthers in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference second-round series.

Minnesota Wild center Joel Eriksson Ek, whose participation in the first-round NHL playoff series loss to Dallas was limited to just one shift, was trying to play with a broken left leg that he wound up having surgery to fix.

Eriksson Ek revealed Monday that he suffered a fractured fibula, the smaller of the two bones in the lower leg, from a shot he blocked April 6 at Pittsburgh. Eriksson Ek missed the last four regular-season games and the first two games of the series against the Stars before being cleared April 21 for Game 3.