A second Sam Bennett injury once again creates ripple effects on Panthers’ forward lines
There was noticeable excitement for the Florida Panthers when Sam Bennett made his season debut on Monday against the Boston Bruins after missing the first seven games of the season with a lower-body injury. The physical center brings a needed edge and intensity to Florida’s forward group and helps stabilize the rest of the team’s forward lines.
Bennett’s debut lasted less than half a game. About seven minutes into the second period, Bruins defenseman Hampus Lindolhm landed awkwardly on Bennett’s left leg near Boston’s net. Bennett crumbled to the ground and had to be helped off the ice, unable to put any weight on his left leg. Bennett played less than eight minutes.
The 27-year-old understandably is not in the Panthers’ lineup on Thursday when they play the Detroit Red Wings for the second game of their three-game road trip that ends Saturday against the Chicago Blackhawks.
But Panthers coach Paul Maurice said the team is optimistic this injury won’t keep him out as long as his first lower-body injury that he sustained on Oct. 5 and kept him out for close to a month.
“We don’t think it’s as significant as the first [injury],” Maurice said after the team practiced Wednesday in Detroit but also acknowledging the injury is more than a day-to-day issue. “He’s going to be a little longer. We’ll see how he feels. What happens in the first three days will tell us how long it’s going to be. That’s really it.”
With Bennett out, the Panthers’ forward lines will once again have a ripple effect.
Anton Lundell takes his spot as the center of Florida’s second line with Carter Verhaeghe and Matthew Tkachuk on the wings. Lundell normally centers Florida’s third line at full strength. Eetu Luostarinen, who ideally plays on the wing, will take Lundell’s third-line center spot and Ryan Lomberg will most likely move up from the fourth line to the third line.
Maurice said he thought Lundell played “as hard as I’ve seen him play this season” during the Panthers’ 3-2 overtime loss to Boston.
As for Lundell, his main goal is to complement whoever he is playing with and adjusting his game to play to his linemates’ strengths.
“I’m just trying to do my best,” Lundell told reporters after the team’s morning skate Thursday. “I’m going to help them as well. Just try to do everything I can to give them pucks and make our line a good line.”
This and that
▪ Forward Evan Rodrigues, who did not practice Wednesday while dealing with what Maurice called a “minor issue” will play on Thursday and take his normal spot on Florida’s top line with Aleksander Barkov and Sam Reinhart.
▪ Defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson, who did not finish Monday’s game against Boston after taking an illegal hit to the head by Bruins defenseman Charlie McAvoy in the third period, is cleared to play against Detroit. McAvoy was suspended four games for the hit.
Ekman-Larsson ranks second on the team in average ice time (23:52) behind only defensive partner Gustav Forsling. His 21 shots on goal lead the team’s defensemen and is fifth on the team overall. Ekman-Larsson also runs the team’s top power-play unit.
▪ Forward William Lockwood, a healthy scratch on Monday, will play Thursday with a spot in the lineup open due to Bennett’s absence.
▪ The Panthers on Thursday recalled forward Rasmus Asplund from the Charlotte Checkers, their American Hockey League affiliate. Asplund, 25, has played 183 career NHL games with the Buffalo Sabres and Nashville Predators, logging 49 points (18 goals, 31 assists).
.JPG)