Florida Panthers Keep Lucas Carlsson, Head to Orlando

The Florida Panthers kept defenseman Lucas Carlsson after he cleared waivers on Tuesday afternoon.

Carlsson, 26, was one of three players waived by the Panthers on Monday with the intention to assign them to the Charlotte Checkers of the AHL.

Rasmus Asplund and Gerry Mayhew also cleared on Tuesday.

Florida currently has a 35-man roster — which includes injured players Aaron Ekblad, Brandon Montour and Jonah Gadjovich — with about a week left before it has to cut down to 23.

The Panthers will play a mostly NHL lineup Tuesday when they visit Orlando to face the Tampa Bay Lightning.

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Although captain Sasha Barkov is not headed to Orlando as coach Paul Maurice said he is getting over an illness, the Panthers will play mostly regulars on Tuesday night.

Barkov, Maurice said, skated on Tuesday morning and could play in the preseason finale Saturday night in Sunrise. “If he feels good on Friday,’’ Maurice said, “we will throw him in on Saturday.”

Of those who appear to be scratched on Tuesday, only Josh Mahura is expected to be set on the Opening Night roster although Matt Kiersted, Zac Dalpe, Justin Sourdif, Uvis Balinskis continue to battle for one of the roster openings.

Those players may play Thursday in Tampa in Game 2 of the three-game set between the Panthers and Lightning.

“The cut was yesterday,’’ Maurice said. “If they’re still here, they’re still in it.”

Sergei Bobrovsky is expected to start against the Lightning.

“Now we shift our focus to making sure our returning veteran players are ready to go,” Maurice said Tuesday. “Some of them will play all three games; probably two out of three for everyone.”

On Tuesday, the Panthers worked on their power play with Sam Bennett appearing to fill in for Barkov on a top unit run by Oliver Ekman-Larsson.

Rookie Mackie Samoskevich, who is playing on the left side of the Bennett line with Matthew Tkachuk, got work on the second power play unit.

“We’re going to shift him to the left side to see how comfortable he is on both sides of the ice,” Maurice said. “That would be two opportunities on different lines. He has had a good camp. Maybe these games become more important for him because we’re getting closer to NHL lineups and you get a better idea of the speed.”

The Panthers open their season on Oct. 12 against the host Wild — which is favored -120 on the early money line.

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