Anton Lundell moved up to second line with Matthew Tkachuk and Carter Verhaeghe

The Florida Panthers recently acquired forward depth will be tested when they face the Carolina Hurricanes on Thursday night in Raleigh.

Following Florida’s morning skate, Panthers Head Coach Paul Maurice said that Sam Bennett and Evan Rodrigues would be held out of the game.

Both players are considered day-to-day and will be reevaluated ahead of Florida’s game against Tampa Bay on Saturday.

Maurice did not give any details on Bennett’s injury, but we knew Rodrigues was dealing with a lower-body ailment that came from blocking a shot during Florida’s win over Calgary.

It’s always a challenge when the Panthers lose a center, but that’s particularly true of Bennett and Sasha Barkov because of how much they do at both ends of the ice and in multiple situations.

Moving into Bennett’s spot on Florida’s second line will be Anton Lundell.

Over the past month, Lundell’s play has turned a corner. He’s been playing with more confidence and producing more on the scoresheet, and it all started when spent a few games filling in for Barkov on the top line.

“He's played with good players and he can make plays,” Maurice said of Lundell. “We feel his game is really trending in the right direction. He can do both…Lundy can play against the other team’s best, but he can also make some plays, and that's true if you're gonna play with Verhaeghe, you need somebody who can get him the puck, and Tkachuk as well, somebody that can read off of plays.”

For a player whose game has been ascending for a good little while, this will be a good test for Lundell.

Carolina has a lot of firepower up front, adding Jake Guentzel and Evgeny Kuznetsov at the NHL Trade Deadline to a unit that already featured Sebastian Aho. Andrei Svechnikov and Teuvo Teravainen.

“In terms of style of play, there's a lot of Barkov there,” Maurice said. “He’s defensively responsible, he understands the game from a defensive point of view, but he has really strong hands as well.”

The puck drops at PNC Arena tonight at 7 p.m.

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