SUNRISE, Fla. — Aleksander Barkov is harm, and the Florida Panthers are relieved it is not as dangerous as initially feared.
Barkov will probably be week-to-week with a knee harm however won’t want surgical procedure, Panthers interim coach Andrew Brunette revealed Wednesday.
“It is the best-case state of affairs,” Brunette stated. “May have been worse. We’ll take care of it as we go.”
Barkov, the Panthers’ captain and main scorer, was injured in a knee-to-knee collision with Scott Mayfield of the New York Islanders within the second interval of their recreation Tuesday evening, gained 6-1 by Florida. Mayfield was referred to as for a five-minute main penalty and a recreation misconduct.
Barkov remained down on the ice for a couple of moments, then was helped to the locker room and appeared unable to place any weight on his left leg. However teammates stated he was shifting round a bit after the sport, and assessments on Wednesday dominated out main harm.
The Islanders stated they did not imagine Mayfield’s hit was a grimy play, and Brunette agreed.
“I believe it was very unlucky,” Brunette stated. “Little bit reckless, however he was simply making an attempt to complete his verify.”
The precise nature of Barkov’s harm was not revealed. Barkov leads the Panthers with 9 objectives and 17 factors, a significant factor in Florida’s 11-2-3 begin to the season – the second-best report within the NHL when it comes to level proportion, behind solely Carolina’s 12-2-0 mark getting into Wednesday.
“Everyone is aware of he is a giant a part of the staff and everyone is aware of they should step up and do their finest,” Panthers ahead Anton Lundell stated.
It is the most recent in a sequence of main challenges already for Florida this season.
The Panthers had been rolling alongside at 7-0-0 when Joel Quenneville needed to resign due to his involvement in how the Chicago Blackhawks didn’t adequately reply to allegations of sexual abuse and harassment by a participant towards one other coach in that group in 2010, when Quenneville was the pinnacle coach there. Brunette took over because the interim coach.
Florida has additionally handled plenty of accidents already this season, and now Barkov will miss time. The Panthers are again on the ice Thursday towards New Jersey, which can mark the return of middle Joe Thornton from harm.
“Barky’s irreplaceable, as everyone knows, however we’ve guys who can step up,” Brunette stated. “We positively have some guys that may be first-line facilities on this league. We’re very lucky to have the depth we’ve in the midst of the ice.”
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