SUNRISE, Fla. – Another one.
The latest member of the Florida Panthers to be bitten by the injury bug, Evan Rodrigues suffered a broken finger in Thursday’s loss to the Minnesota Wild at Amerant Bank Arena.
Seeing just 49 seconds of ice time, Rodrigues suffered the injury during his first shift.
“We’ll find out Monday if he needs surgery on it or not,” head coach Paul Maurice said of Rodrigues, who's tallied 31 points (11G, 20A) this season. “I don’t know, four weeks or six weeks [recovery], depending on if there’s surgery or not.”
At this point, the Panthers have half a team on the injured list.
In addition to Rodrigues, fellow forwards Aleksander Barkov, Anton Lundell, Sam Reinhart, Brad Marchand, Mackie Samoskevich, Jonah Gadjovich and Cole Schwindt are currently sidelined by various ailments, as well as defensemen Niko Mikkola and Uvis Balinskis.
“The most dangerous job in sports right now is to play for the Florida Panthers,” Maurice said.”
It’s still unclear which of players will be able to return this season.
Based on recent updates from Maurice, Samoskevich and Schwindt are the most encouraging.
Also unavailable, A.J. Greer has one game left on his three-game suspension.
Even though it’s been a season of adversity for the back-to-back Stanley Cup champions, the Panthers plan to finish as strong – and hopefully as healthy – as they can.
“If we lose the culture, we’re absolutely screwed,” Tkachuk said. “That’s our ace of spade. That’s our trump card. And if we lose that and mail it in and the guys coming in and out of the lineup see that — if some of the guys that have been here for a few years, that have been far and won a few times, if we take the foot off the gas — that shows them that that’s OK and that’s not OK. So, if we lose the culture, we’re screwed, and we’re not going to do that.”
Sitting at 35-33-3 with 11 games left to play, the Panthers will now travel north to face the New York Islanders and New York Rangers on Saturday and Sunday, respectively.
Puck drop for both games is slated for 1 p.m. ET.
