Ekblad left Tuesday's game in Montreal after the first period and did not return

The Florida Panthers are dealing with a few injuries.

Monday in Toronto they lost Carter Verhaeghe to an upper-body injury. He's considered week-to-week, though there is hope that he's good to go for the Stanley Cup Playoffs when they begin later this month.

Then on Tuesday night in Montreal, defenseman Aaron Ekblad did not return to the game after the first period.

There was no update from Panthers Head Coach Paul Maurice on Ekblad after the game, other than that he would be checked out further the following day.

Well, Florida took Wednesday off as they traveled from Montreal to Ottawa, where they'll meet the Senators on Thursday night at Canadian Tire Centre.

While there has been no update on Ekblad, the Panthers did something that may or may not be related to his injury.

On Wednesday, Florida called up defenseman Uvis Balinskis from the AHL's Charlotte Checkers.

Balinskis was with the team as recently as last week, joining the Cats while they dealt with Ekblad's previous injury, a two-game suspension handed to Dmitry Kulikov and an illness that kept Gus Forsling out of the lineup for a couple games.

How much and how badly his time is needed with Florida on this latest stint is yet to be known.

The next time the Panthers will be on the ice will be for their morning skate on Thursday in Ottawa, and that's when Head Coach Paul Maurice will be able to provide an update on his top pairing defenseman's status.

Stay tuned. 

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