Sam Bennett to miss Panthers game in Philadelphia, considered day-to-day

Panthers center Sam Bennett won't play against the Flyers due to an undisclosed injury

The Florida Panthers will look to keep the good times rolling on Tuesday night in Philadelphia, but have to do it without one of their key players.

Panthers center Sam Bennett will miss the game with an apparent lower-body injury.

He left Monday night's 5-2 win in Detroit with just under 13 minutes to go after skating a short shift, mostly in the Red Wings zone.

Bennett jumped over the boards to take Sasha Barkov's place just as Eetu Luostarinen rushed up the ice with the puck.

Luostarinen cut through two Detroit defenders and entered their zone, with Sam Reinhart offering support on the off wing. Luostarinen then cut towards the boards and was knocked off the puck and onto his backside, with the puck just kind of hanging around inside the left faceoff circle.

That's when Bennett, fresh off Florida's bench, came charging into the offensive zone, just as Detroit's Dominik Kubalik picked up the puck. The two came together and Bennett forced the puck further into the zone, back into the circle where Reinhart was waiting.

Bennett cut to the middle of the ice and Reinhart tried to saucer him a pass, but it was knocked out of midair by Wings defenseman Olli Maatta. At the same time, Detroit's Moritz Seider takes a swipe at the puck as Bennett tried breaking open down the slot, but instead Bennett appeared to stop skating briefly on his left leg before going back to Florida's bench.

When Bennett initially shot toward the middle of the ice, after getting the puck to Reinhart, Kubalik's stick may have been tied up with Bennett's legs. He pushed forward a few strides, and when Seider's stick went by Bennett's leg, he lifted the leg and stopped skating hard.

I have only seen this from one angle, and that's the main long camera that we see for most of a hockey game. There was no replay or other angles to review, so this is all based off what happened to Bennett on that final, 17 second shift.

For those wondering, Bennett seemed to be moving fine on his previous shift, which lasted one minute and 16 seconds. It was mostly played during a 4-on-4 and almost entirely was spent in Florida's defensive zone, but Bennett appeared to push off both his legs without issue and no apparent laboring.

Last month Bennett missed six games while dealing with a lower-body injury, but has been playing some of his best hockey of the season since returning.

Florida went 3-3-0 in the six games without Bennett but has gone 6-0-1 in the seven games since. 

Florida will look to keep their points streak going against the Flyers. 

Givani Smith has been taken off LTIR and will take Bennett's spot in the lineup. Alex Lyon will start in goal for Florida.