Aleksander Barkov, the Panthers’ reluctant star, leads without having to say much

SUNRISE, Fla. — Here’s the list of Aleksander Barkov’s top highlights from the Florida-Boston series: the go-ahead goal that sparked a Game 2 victory, scoring a spectacular game-winning goal to cap a comeback in Game 4, then blocking a shot late in Game 6 to keep things tied about 90 seconds before the Panthers won the game and clinched the series. He’s been unbelievable.” The Panthers have plenty of standouts — among them, goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky has been stellar, Tkachuk is always dangerous, Sam Reinhart has scored more than 60 goals combined in the regular season and playoffs and Gustav Forsling is clearly one of the NHL’s best defensemen. We all follow Sasha’s lead and are proud to have him as our captain.” Everyone obviously enjoys winning, but few on the Panthers fully understand the journey the franchise took on its way to back-to-back NHL final fours better than Barkov. “His level of preparation is something that I haven’t seen very often in my career,” said Kyle Okposo, who was Buffalo’s captain before a midseason trade to the Panthers.