Sam Bennett will be out with an injury, which is a huge blow for the Florida Panthers. He left last night’s game two matchup with the Tampa Bay Lightning after taking a Brandon Montour slapshot up high. He had left the game in the second period and did not return to action. Furthermore, the news today is he will be out for “a lengthy period of time.” Not a lot of information to go on, but it is the 2024 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs after-all. After last night’s victory the Panthers now lead the best-of-seven series 2-0. However, being without one of the club’s best two-way forwards, the difficult journey towards the Cup becomes all the more strenuous.
Sam Bennett Has a Upper-Body Injury and Will Miss Some Time for the Florida Panthers
JUST IN: Florida Panthers center Sam Bennett will be out for a lengthy period of time, multiple sources tell me.
— Andy Slater (@AndySlater) April 24, 2024
Sam Bennett has been one of the Panthers most consistent players since his acquisition from the Calgary Flames back in 2021. He has hit the 40 point mark in each of his three full seasons in South Florida. Moreover, Bennett was off to a great start to the game, as he had already collected a goal and an assist. He has again, consistently being a reliable figure in the Panthers lineup when springtime hockey rolls around. Even back to his Calgary days. In eight playoff appearances, through 67 career games, he has 44 points. Perhaps impressively is his hit total, and he has recorded 255 in those games. This will be an all-round difficult set of skates for the club to fill.
Who Can Step Up?
One point that the Panthers are lucky following the injury to Sam Bennett is their depth at the centre-ice position. They have lots of other players that can jump in and play the centre position. Guys that can be depth centres include Anton Lundell, Kevin Stenlund, or even Sam Reinhart on occasion. In last night’s game, it was Lundell that was bumped up to play with Carter Verhaeghe and Matthew Tkachuk. Not a couple of bad wingers to find yourself playing, and not hard to see why Florida is expected to contend for the Cup.
Main photo: Sam Navarro-USA TODAY Sports
