George Richards, FHN Publisher
With four games remaining in their season, the Florida Panthers are down to one Opening Night defenseman with Paul Maurice disclosing that Seth Jones fractured his foot on Tuesday.
Jones had already missed three months with a broken collarbone sustained early in the first period of the NHL Winter Classic in Miami on Jan. 2.
Gus Forsling is the only defenseman left from Florida’s opening win against the Chicago Blackhawks on Oct. 7.
Florida had previously lost Forsling’s partner Aaron Ekblad to a broken finger, as well as Dmitry Kulikov (broken finger), Niko Mikkola (knee), and Uvis Balinskis (foot).
“Two more guys broke bones,’’ Maurice said, referring to losing both Kulikov and Jones in the Montreal game.
Jeff Petry was in the opening night lineup but he was traded to the Minnesota Wild at the deadline.
Donovan Sebrango was claimed off waivers after Kulikov was initially knocked out for four months with a shoulder injury and will play his 37th game tonight in his hometown of Ottawa.
He rates as a regular defenseman for the Panthers now.
The Panthers called up Marek Alscher and Ludvig Jansson from AHL Charlotte.
Both will make their NHL debuts tonight, becoming the fifth and sixth players to do so with the Panthers this season.
”We have a young backend there. We’ve got Old Man Forsling and the Kids,’’ Maurice joked. “We’ll get a chance to take a look at those guys tonight and, hopefully they enjoy their debut.’’
The Panthers now have 11 regulars out of their lineup due to injury — and star Matthew Tkachuk is home for the birth of his first child.
Florida Panthers Injuries: Seth Jones (fractured foot), Dmitry Kulikov (broken finger), Aaron Ekblad (broken finger), Evan Rodrigues (broken finger), Sam Reinhart (foot), Niko Mikkola (knee), Anton Lundell (upper body), Uvis Balinskis (fractured foot), Brad Marchand (lower body), Sasha Barkov (knee), Jonah Gadjovich (upper body)
ON DECK: GAME No. 79
FLORIDA PANTHERS at OTTAWA SENATORS
- When: Thursday, 7 p.m.
- Where: Canada Tire Center, Ottawa
- Local TV: Scripps Sports — WSFL 39 (Miami/FTL); WHDT 9 (WPB); LAFF 36.3 (SWFla)
- Streaming: Panthers+, ESPN+
- Radio: WQAM; WBZT 1230-AM (Palm Beach); WCTH 100.3-FM (Florida Keys); SiriusXM
- Panthers Radio Streaming: SiriusXM 932, NHL App
- Last Season: Senators won 2-1
- This Season (Panthers Lead 3-0) — At Ottawa: Panthers 3, Senators 2 (Jan. 10); Thursday. At Florida: Panthers 6, Senators 2 (Oct. 11); Panthers 6, Senators 3 (March 31)
- All-time Regular Season Series: Ottawa leads 59-51-5, 3 ties
- Up Next for the Panthers: Saturday at Toronto Maple Leafs, 7