LOS ANGELES – The Florida Panthers are down another man.
Late in the second period of Tuesday’s 2-1 win over the Los Angeles Kings at Crypto.com Arena, forward Brad Marchand suffered a lower-body injury and did not return to the game.
High-sticked by Kings defenseman Brandt Clarke while driving to the net, Marchand went crashing into the right post in an awkward position and immediately grabbed his left knee.
After being looked at by a trainer on the ice, he was helped to the locker room.
Clarke was assessed a double-minor penalty on the play.
Following the game, the Panthers had no immediate update on Marchand’s status.
“We’ll get him looked at probably Thursday,” head coach Paul Maurice said.
Playing in just his second game after undergoing offseason surgery to repair an undisclosed injury that had kept him out of action since March 6 of last season, Marchand scored the game-tying goal in Sunday’s 3-2 overtime loss to the Anaheim Ducks.
In 1,154 games, the two-time Stanley Cup champion has logged 1,035 points (452G, 583A).
“Yeah, brutal," said teammate Matthew Tkachuk, who scored the game-winning goal in the third period against the Kings. "Haven’t seen him yet, but obviously want to check on him.”
While Marchand’s status remains up in the air for the time being, the Panthers know they’ll be without their superstar captain for at least the next six to eight weeks after Aleksander Barkov suffered a lower-body injury in a 4-3 overtime loss to the San Jose Sharks on Oct. 1.
But even with these injuries, the Panthers are off to an 2-0-2 start and currently sit atop the incredibly deep Atlantic Divison.
For the recent back-to-back Stanley Cup champions, adversity is nothing new.
“Everyone gets hit with injuries, right? We're not going to have a victim mentality,” defenseman Seth Jones said. “It’s next man up. That's how it's always been. We can't think about the past or last year. Injuries happen. I think we have an extremely deep team. Everyone plays the exact same way, and I think that's what makes us great.”
