Florida Panthers winger Mackie Samoskevich is day-to-day with a lower-body injury, and his status for Tuesday's matchup against the Carolina Hurricanes is unknown.
Mackie Samoskevich was held out of the lineup against the St. Louis Blues on Saturday with a lower-body injury. The Florida Panthers announced he is day-to-day, and his status for Tuesday's encounter with the Carolina Hurricanes is unknown.
The Hurricanes will be the last opponent the Panthers battle with before the brief holiday break. After Tuesday's game, the Panthers don't play until Dec. 27 against the Tampa Bay Lightning, a highly anticipated rematch.
The exact moment when the 23-year-old suffered the injury hasn't been revealed. Still, it has been made clear that the injury was sustained when the Panthers last played the Hurricanes, on Dec. 19, when his last shift came with 4:43 remaining in the third period. Jack Studnicka entered the lineup in place of Samoskevich and will likely do the same if Samoskevich is still unable to play.
The sharpshooting winger has posted four goals and 17 points in 34 games, on pace to record more points than his rookie season but fewer goals. His shooting percentage is just 5.3 percent, a number both he and the Panthers have to believe will improve. If it does, he should be able to match the 15 goals he scored the year prior.
The Panthers have climbed back into the playoff picture, sitting one point back of third place in the Atlantic Division and one point back of the final wild card spot. A win could catapult them back into a playoff spot, but it will at least keep them within the same range. The Hurricanes are a tough opponent, but they'll be without Seth Jarvis and Jaccob Slavin as the club recently announced that they will be out week-to-week with upper-body injuries.
The puck drop is set for 7 p.m. EST at the Lenovo Center in Raleigh, NC.
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