Between illness and two more injuries, Panthers’ forward depth continues to be tested
.JPG "Florida Panthers left wing Matthew Tkachuk (19) celebrates with center Aleksander Barkov (16) after scoring a goal during the second period of an NHL hockey game against the Columbus Blue Jackets, Tuesday, Dec. 13, 2022, in Sunrise, Fla.")
Paul Maurice walked into his postgame interview after the Florida Panthers’ 4-0 win over the Columbus Blue Jackets on Tuesday a little subdued, his voice hoarse.
Is he getting what’s been going around the Panthers’ dressing room lately?
“No, no,” Maurice said. “That’s just from yelling.”
It wasn’t the type of yelling he was doing on the bench two days earlier midway through the team’s loss to the Seattle Kraken. This time, it was out of necessity to let which players know who had to be on the ice for any given shift.
That was needed after the team lost two players mid-game and had to run with just 10 forwards for more than half the game.
“It’s a quiet night when you’ve got four lines and everybody knows who’s going,” Maurice said, “but when you get down to 10, you have to call everybody’s name every single time. You do a lot of barking.”
Everything worked out in the moment on Tuesday. Goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky had a 22-save shutout. The line of Matthew Tkachuk, Aleksander Barkov and Sam Reinhart combined for three of Florida’s goals and was on the ice for the other one scored by defenseman Brandon Montour.
But the Panthers’ already thinning forward depth is a little thinner now, and Florida will likely have to dip even deeper into their reserves to field a full roster on Thursday when they host the Pittsburgh Penguins.
“Unfortunately,” Reinhart said, “it’s nothing new for us this year.”
The team was already without veteran winger Patric Hornqvist, who is on long-term injured reserve with a concussion. Center Anton Lundell hasn’t played since Dec. 1 as he dealt with the illness that has gone around the dressing room and is now out with an upper-body injury.
And now the Panthers have three more names to the list of uncertainty following Tuesday’s game against Columbus.
Winger Carter Verhaeghe did not play Tuesday because of a non-COVID illness, and fellow forwards Colin White and Chris Tierney sustained upper-body injuries and did not return.
“It’s not easy,” Barkov said.
Maurice postgame said the injuries to White and Tierney did not appear to be “anything catastrophic,” but said it will likely be “maybe longer than day-to-day on both.” Tierney entered concussion protocol Wednesday, and White and Lundell remain unlikely to play Thursday, Maurice said.
As for Verhaeghe, who leads Florida with 15 goals, Maurice feels more optimistic about his availability for Thursday.
But after seeing Barkov (seven games missed in an eight-game stretch) and Lundell (six games missed and counting) miss extended time, Maurice didn’t want to risk anything with Verhaeghe.
“He’s feeling better today,” Maurice said. “He’s possible for tomorrow, but we’ve had those go both ways. We’ve had guys walk back in and feel great, and never look back and, of course, it’s gone the other way on us.
“Half the group is either out with it or has dealt with it or is dealing with it. It’s just kind of running its course and hopeful he’d be back in for next game. We’ve just had so many of these guys that you thought that and it turned out to be quite a bit longer. We are being careful because we don’t want to turn into a Barkov situation.”
So where do the Panthers go from here? They could potentially need to call up two players depending on the severity of the injuries to Tierney and White and the health of Verhaeghe and Lundell.
They already have three forwards from the Charlotte Checkers, their American Hockey League affiliate, on the roster in Tierney, Zac Dalpe and Grigori Denisenko, the latter of who Florida recalled on Tuesday when they realized Verhaeghe wasn’t going to be able to play.
Aleksi Heponiemi, who has already played seven games with the Panthers this season, would be the most logical player to bring up if they do end up needing another forward.
This story was originally published December 14, 2022 at 10:13 AM.
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