SUNRISE, Fla. -- Florida Panthers defenseman Erik Gudbranson's lower-body injury isn't as severe as the team feared, but Gudbranson will be out of the lineup for at least two weeks.

Gudbranson will miss the game against the Phoenix Coyotes at BB&T Center on Tuesday and will be joined on the sidelines by forward Jesse Winchester, who is out with a lower-body injury.

Gudbranson, the third pick of the 2010 NHL Draft, was injured in the third period of a 5-2 loss to the Boston Bruins on Sunday when he collided with Bruins forward Brad Marchand near the Panthers blue line. The two appeared to bump knees and Gudbranson's leg appeared to bend awkwardly as he fell to the ice.

"The scans came back better than we anticipated," Panthers coach Peter Horachek said after the morning skate Tuesday. "I don't really have the exact timeline. We'll have to wait to see where it is, but in the short term we got good news with the scan [because we were] fearful that there was more than we thought."

SUNRISE, Fla. -- Roberto Luongo talked at length about his return to the Florida Panthers the past two days, but Friday was time to get ready for his first game with his old/new team.

Luongo didn't address the media after the morning skate Friday, but his coach and teammates had plenty to say about Luongo's first game back in a Panthers uniform.

"It's a big game for our fans to see Roberto back in net and for us here to play a big game in front of him," forward Scottie Upshall said. "It's a big match."

The first game of Luongo's second stint with the Panthers will come Friday against the Buffalo Sabres at BB&T Center. It comes a little less than eight years after Luongo was traded from the Panthers to the Vancouver Canucks after five seasons in Florida.

SUNRISE, Fla. -- The Washington Capitals will have defenseman Mike Green and center Mikhail Grabovski back in the lineup Thursday night when they try to pick up where they left off before the Olympic break, but the status of center Marcus Johansson was still up in the air after the morning skate.

Johansson skated with his teammates Thursday morning after arriving at the team hotel in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., at 10:30 p.m. Wednesday. After competing in the 2014 Sochi Olympics, Johansson had to fly to Sweden to resolve a visa issue and spent 20 hours traveling Wednesday to Miami after making a stop in London.

"I don't feel great right now," Johansson said. "Obviously when you travel like that for 20 hours or whatever it was, it takes a little toll on your body, but you get a good nap in and a good meal, I think it'll help me a lot."

SUNRISE, Fla. -- Detroit Red Wings goalie Jimmy Howard, who will play for the United States team at the 2014 Sochi Olympics, summed up pretty well the news that Martin St. Louis would replace Steven Stamkos on the Canadian squad.

"They replace a great player with another great player," Howard said after the Red Wings' morning skate in preparation for their game against the Florida Panthers on Thursday night. "It's as simple as that."

Red Wings coach Mike Babcock was more directly affected by the change because he'll be the head coach for the Canadian team.

"I feel bad for [Stamkos]," Babcock said. "He's one of the best players in the NHL. I love watching him play. High-powered kid. He's really learning how to play the game 200 feet. He would have been a real asset.

"In saying that, St. Louis has had a great year. He's had four great years since the last Olympics. It was really hard decisions when we were picking the team. He goes in as a group of one of 14 and then he's got to carve out whatever he can carve for himself, just like the rest of the guys. We're thrilled to have him. He's a great person. He competes hard. He's ultra-competitive and we want him to bring that."

SUNRISE, Fla. -- Detroit Red Wings forward Pavel Datsyuk declared himself ready to go after the morning skate Thursday and will make his return to the lineup against the Florida Panthers at BB&T Center.

Datsyuk, out the past 14 games with a knee injury, will play for the first time since the 2014 Bridgestone NHL Winter Classic against the Toronto Maple Leafs on New Year's Day. Datsyuk will skate on a line with Darren Helm and Daniel Alfredsson.

"Sooner or later, I needed to start," Datsyuk said. "I waited enough. We'll see what happens tonight."

SUNRISE, Fla. -- Between suspensions and injuries, David Clarkson's first season with the Toronto Maple Leafs has been something of a nightmare. He's hoping things finally start heading in a positive direction when he returns to the lineup Tuesday against the Florida Panthers.

Clarkson, who signed a seven-year contract with the Maple Leafs during the summer after spending his first seven seasons with the New Jersey Devils, missed the past eight games because of an elbow injury. He missed the first 10 games of the regular season after being suspended for his part in a preseason altercation involving the Buffalo Sabres, later had a two-game suspension for an illegal hit to the head of St. Louis Blues forward Vladimir Sobotka and missed another game because of a foot injury.

Clarkson said after the morning skate Tuesday he was hoping to be able to hit the reset button on his season.

SUNRISE, Fla. -- Veteran forward Alex Tanguay will be back in the lineup for the first time since Nov. 2 when the Colorado Avalanche face the Florida Panthers at BB&T Center Friday. But there will be no second matchup this season between the first and second selections in the 2013 NHL Draft because Panthers center Aleksander Barkov is out with a lower-body injury.

Barkov was injured in the first period of Florida's 4-3 victory against the Buffalo Sabres on Tuesday night and didn't return to the game. He didn't practice on Thursday and wasn't on the ice for the morning skate Friday.

Interim head coach Peter Horachek said Barkov would be evaluated on a daily basis and no decision had been made yet on whether to take him on a four-game road trip that begins Sunday with a game against the Detroit Red Wings.

Barkov, the No. 2 pick last June, leads the Panthers with 24 points and had played in every game this season.

SUNRISE, Fla. -- San Jose Sharks goalie Alex Stalock will get a rare start Thursday against the Florida Panthers.

Stalock, a fourth-round pick (No. 112) in the 2005 NHL Draft who made his first NHL start Oct. 27, will make his seventh start of the season but only his second in the past 12 games.

Antti Niemi gave up three goals in the past three games, but Sharks coach Todd McLellan said it was part of a plan to keep his goalie fresh for the playoffs, particularly with Niemi competing for Finland in the 2014 Sochi Olympics.

Stalock allowed two goals on 35 shots in his previous start, a 3-2 shootout victory against the Chicago Blackhawks on Jan. 5.

Stalock will be going against veteran Tim Thomas, who will make his seventh consecutive start in net for the Panthers. Thomas hasn't allowed more than two goals in any of his past four starts.

SUNRISE, Fla. -- The New York Islanders will try to extend a couple of impressive streaks Tuesday against the Florida Panthers, but they will have to do so without the services of defenseman Travis Hamonic.

Hamonic, who is second on the Islanders in ice time at 24:57 per game, will miss his first game of the season. Coach Jack Capuano said Hamonic was day to day with an upper-body injury that kept him out for the third period of a 4-2 victory against the Dallas Stars on Sunday.

The Islanders already are without defensemen Radek Martinek, who has missed the past 21 games due to back spasms, and Lubomir Visnovsky, who hasn't played since Oct. 19 because of a concussion.

Matt Carkner, a healthy scratch the past two games, will move into the lineup to replace Hamonic.

"Losing a guy that's played 25 minutes, that's a huge loss for our hockey team," Capuano said. "We're going to have to make some adjustments as the game goes on, there's no question."

SUNRISE, Fla. -- Barry Trotz and Peter Horachek reminisced about their nine years working together with the Nashville Predators when they went to dinner in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., on Friday night.

It's all business Saturday, though, when the Predators face the Florida Panthers at BB&T Center and Trotz goes up against his former right-hand man for the first time.

"Obviously we didn't share any secrets," said Trotz, the only coach the Predators have had since they joined the NHL in 1998. "That's taboo. It was the first time I got to see Peter since he left the organization. I would do the same if it was vice versa or he was coming to Nashville. We just caught up on old times."

Horachek was an assistant on Trotz's staff for the past nine seasons, serving as associate coach the last two.