- Aleksander Barkov left Thursday’s game against the Sharks after an awkward fall in the second period
- The Panthers captain missed all of last season following surgery on his right ACL and MCL
- Read below for the video of the Barkov injury and more details
Aleksander Barkov’s comeback hit a scary snag on Thursday night.
The Panthers captain left Florida’s game against the Sharks at SAP Center in the second period after going down awkwardly in the corner during a Florida power play. Once he got to his feet, Barkov headed straight for the Zamboni doors and threw his gloves down on his way to the dressing room.
Take a look at the video of the Barkov injury:
This was only his second game back. Barkov missed the entire 2025-26 season after hurting his right knee on the first day of training camp, and he had surgery the next day to repair his ACL and MCL.
Florida didn’t ease him in on Tuesday. Barkov logged 20:32 in the opener and won 10 of 20 faceoffs as the Panthers spoiled Carolina’s banner night with a 1-0 overtime win.
Barkov was asked afterward what it felt like to finally be back in a regular-season game.
“It was great,” Barkov said. “The speed of the game is really fast. I missed a whole season, so coming here, the first game of the season is one of the (most) fast-paced.”
Catch his full postgame video from the opener:
His knee hadn’t been a worry heading into the year. Barkov captained Finland to gold at the IIHF World Championship in May with 11 points in 10 games, and he looked like himself again once Panthers camp opened.
He talked in September about what that spring tournament did for his confidence.
“I have a better feeling going toward this camp knowing that I played some hockey, meaningful hockey, and felt good there,” Barkov said. “Especially the more we played, the better I felt. I was really happy about that.”
San Jose was already up 2-0 when he went down, and the Sharks added to that lead later in the period.
The 31-year-old Barkov has 782 points in 806 regular-season games, three Selke Trophies and two Stanley Cups as Florida’s captain. The Panthers had not given an update on Barkov’s status during the game.
