FHN Florida Panthers Wrap: Injuries Mount as Road Trip Nears End

The Florida Panthers started this week with back-to-back losses in Alberta but bounced back nicely with a pair of 5-1 wins.

On Thursday, the Panthers ended their three-game slide with a win at Vancouver and then beat the Kraken for the first time — OK, they were only 0-2 against Seattle — on Saturday night.

The win Saturday night may have been costly as Florida saw both Radko Gudas and Patric Hornqvist leave the game with injuries.

Gudas could not stand up after colliding with Sam Bennett and Jared McCann up along the wall while Hornqvist appeared to take a shoulder to the head from Daniel Sprong.

With Anton Lundell not playing after leaving Thursday’s game early on, the Panthers were down to 15 skaters.

We did not get any real update from Paul Maurice on either player postgame, so we’ll just have to wait and see what happens.

The team is flying to Wyoming this morning (not kidding) and has the day off before a scheduled practice Monday.

Or maybe they’re going dogsledding that day. I can’t keep up.

With this team’s injury concerns, I doubt anyone is hitting the slopes.

TODAY

If the Panthers were to be without Gudas and/or Hornqvist on Tuesday, they would have to play shorthanded again.

Florida has already played four games with 17 skaters (not counting the goalies) but may have to go with 16.

Why? It’s complicated.

— Although the Panthers were shorthanded, they certainly did not look like it against the Kraken as they took a 3-1 lead into the third after a strong 20 from Seattle as Spencer Knight was terrific.

Knight laughed when told this was his 50th NHL game as he mentioned Sergei Bobrovsky just played in his 600th.

Seattle was not laughing afterward as Knight made 35 saves as the Kraken’s seven-game win streak ended.

— A whole bunch of video from the Panthers’ roadtrip is on the FHN YouTube Channel.

Following Saturday night’s game, hear from Maurice, Knight, Carter Verhaeghe and Marc Staal.

We also have video from Roberto Luongo speaking to the Vancouver media as the Canucks are putting him in their Ring of Honor next season.

Check out all of our FHN videos RIGHT HERE or just click on the videos below and enjoy them at your leisure.

SATURDAY

When Josh Mahura was placed on waivers by the Ducks, he was not sure what was going to happen next.

He has definitely found a home with the Florida Panthers.

— Anton Lundell missed Saturday night’s game against the Kraken as the Panthers played shorthanded again. We did not know it would be so shorthanded, however.

FRIDAY

Three goals in 59 seconds?

The Panthers did that in Vancouver on Thursday night at the end of the first period and ended their three-game losing streak.

It was the fastest three goals scored in franchise history with Matthew Tkachuk, Gus Forsling and Ryan Lomberg taking the record from (checks notes) Bryan McCabe, Rostislav ‘Rusty’ Olesz and Dominic Moore from 2009.

THURSDAY

The Panthers found themselves riding a rough stretch and their fanbase is not having it.

Colby took on some of your hottest takes in the latest installment of the FHN Panthers Temperature Check.

— With Sasha Barkov out due to illness, the Florida Panthers gave Aleksi Heponiemi another shot with the team.

— The Canucks were playing some good hockey coming into their game against the Panthers.

WEDNESDAY

Jonathan Huberdeau and MacKenzie Weegar got some more satisfaction as the Calgary Flames scored three in the first period and ran the Panthers out of Calgary.

Not a fun night for Bobrovsky as Calgary scored three goals in the first period.

TUESDAY

Matthew Tkachuk was happy to be back in Calgary although he was not upset that the trip was a short one.

— The Panthers were on the second-half of a back-to-back when they took on the Flames.

MONDAY

The Florida Panthers road trip got off to a rocky start as they watched the Edmonton Oilers score the game-tying goal with 4.4 seconds left then win in overtime.

No, not a great start at all.

— With Barkov out, the Panthers had to make some big changes.

LAST SUNDAY

The Panthers announced that Barkov would not make the flight to Edmonton and would miss at least the first two games.

Turns out it was the first four — and perhaps the entire road trip.

— The Panthers blew a three-goal lead in the third period against the Blues and ended up losing in a shootout.

Turned out to be a precursor to the Edmonton game.

PANTHERS ON DECK

FLORIDA PANTHERS AT WINNIPEG JETS

• When: Tuesday, 8 p.m.
• Where: Canada Life Center; Winnipeg, Manitoba
• TV: Bally Sports Florida; ESPN+
• Radio: WPOW 96.5-FM2; WBZT 1230-AM (Palm Beach); WCTH 100.3-FM (Florida Keys); SiriusXM
• Panthers Radio Streaming: SiriusXM 932
• Last season: Florida won 2-0
• All-time regular season series: Atlanta Thrashers/Winnipeg Jets lead 50-31-8, 5 ties