Since injury to Sam Bennett, Panthers season has nosedived

Do Florida's playoff hopes hinge on the health of Sam Bennett?

Sometimes it’s easy to spot a connection between things, and then sometimes it’s not.

In the case of the Florida Panthers and their recent transition from a season-best seven-game points streak to a season-worst four-game losing streak, there is one clear difference.

Sam Bennett.

The line of Bennett centering Carter Verhaeghe and Matthew Tkachuk had become the most consistent and, perhaps more importantly, most formidable unit on the team over the past month.

Game after game, shift after shift, that line was netting positive results for the Panthers.

The return of Anthony Duclair to Florida’s lineup was like throwing gasoline on the fire as suddenly, not only were the Panthers playing their best hockey of the season, but they also had the kind of forward depth that helped them win the Presidents’ Trophy a season ago.

It was just last week, with Bennett and seemingly everyone else firing on all cylinders for Florida, that they appeared to have climbed out of a huge hole. After beating Detroit on Monday, the Panthers were finally occupying a playoff spot.

Spirits were high that night in the Motor City, but what nobody in the moment realized was that team had suffered a possibly fatal wound when Bennett left the game with just under 13 minutes to go.

There was no postgame update other than that Bennett would be reevaluated the following day before the Panthers wrapped up their road back-to-back in Philadelphia.

Speaking to the media couple hours before the Flyers game, Florida Head Coach Paul Maurice had the following to say about Bennett.

“He won’t play tonight and we’ll list him as day-to-day,” Maurice said, adding. “I think this is short term.”

Asked if it was upper-body or lower-body, Maurice only answered, “It’s undisclosed.”

Fast forward one week and four games later…Bennett remains out of the lineup and the Panthers have yet to win a game or come close to resembling the strong unit they had ascended to become with a fully loaded roster.

Within that week of Bennett-less losses, Maurice, while speaking about the great individual work done by his assistant coaches with several Panthers players, gave some insight into just why the 26-year-old plays such a crucial role.

“Sam Bennett is a player that we rely on now, and it's not an all-offensive game,” Maurice said Friday, the day between the Maple Leafs and Rangers games. “He's become a smart defensive player, and that's really helped Matthew (Tkachuk) in his game.”

Maurice expanded on this thought a couple days later in Ottawa.

“Bennett does some unusual things,” he said. “He drives that line. He adds speed to Verhaeghe, which Tkachuk needs, and he’s got the grit and bite in the game, which Verhaeghe needs.”

Bennett’s improvements in his all-around play have allowed a couple of offensive-minded guys in Tkachuk and Verhaeghe more freedom to operate offensively and a heavier game to limit opportunities for the opposition.

In the week since the injury, Maurice has still yet to disclose whether its upper-body or lower-body but did say the ailment was something Bennett has dealt with before.

Between Bennett’s injury history, the play he appeared to get hurt in Detroit and the way he looked when skating last week at FLA Live Arena, one can deduce what may be bothering him.

“We just don't want to have this situation come back again, so we're trying to be mindful of that,” Maurice said.

Whether or not the Panthers are going to disclose specifics on Bennett’s injury, it’s apparent that the team is far better with him in the lineup than they are without.

When Bennett missed six games during the month of February with a lower-body injury, Florida managed a 3-3-0 record, but when he came back, the Panthers reeled off points in seven straight, including six wins.

Then came the Detroit game, and this latest injury.

Now the walls are closing in on Florida’s season, and they have yet to show they can bounce back from this latest obstacle without Bennett.

The Panthers held an optional practice on Tuesday in Toronto. It’s not known if Bennett skated.

With eight games to go and a growing gap between Florida and the Wild Card spots, it seems clear that if the Panthers are going to put up a fight, they need their punchy second-line center back in the lineup.