While driving the net, Marchand was high-sticked by Kings defenseman Brandt Clarke, which caused him to contort awkwardly into the right post with 53 seconds remaining in the period. Clarke was assessed a double minor penalty on the play.
Marchand was in visible pain while holding his left knee on the ice. He stayed down for a few minutes and was attended to by a trainer before helped off the ice by Brady Tkachuk and Niko Mikkola.
The 38-year-old forward was playing in just his second game for Florida (1-0-2) this season. He missed the first two while recovering from offseason surgery he had for an unspecified injury.
In his season debut on Sunday, Marchand scored the game-tying goal with 1:50 remaining in the third period to help the Panthers salvage a point in a 3-2 overtime loss to the Anaheim Ducks.
Marchand's injury comes on the same day Florida announced that captain Aleksander Barkov will be out 6-8 weeks because of a lower-body injury.
"He's scheduled to be out 6-8 weeks, non-surgical rehab, and that's our best window," coach Paul Maurice said. "Could be a little less, could be a little more, but we think 6-8 is the right rehab time."
Barkov had gone down awkwardly while battling for the puck in the right corner during a power play at 8:07 of the second period in a 4-3 loss to the San Jose Sharks on Oct. 1. After getting up, he immediately asked for the Zamboni doors to be opened and threw his gloves down while walking to the locker room.
Barkov was playing in just his second game after missing all of 2025-26 because of a right knee injury he sustained on the first day of training camp. He had surgery the day after the injury to repair his MCL and ACL.
"It was harder to handle last year," Maurice said. "You’re just hoping you could stick around and make the playoffs. He might be able to come back, but he didn’t really return until mid-May at the World Championships.
"He's our captain, and we miss him. And he feels it when he’s not around, so he’s probably the happiest of all of us."
