The lower-body injury to Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov won’t keep him out for long. Head coach Paul Maurice told reporters including Mike Harrington of The Buffalo News (Twitter link) that the center is expected to miss two to three weeks and is expected to be ready to play by the time Florida heads overseas in early November for games in Barkov’s native Finland, if not before then. That means he shouldn’t miss any more time relative to his original week-to-week designation. The 29-year-old has been a high-end two-way top center for several seasons now and has put up at least 78 points in each of the last three seasons. Harrington also noted that Florida winger Matthew Tkachuk won’t play tonight against Buffalo although his absence isn’t injury-related but rather due to illness.