Florida's victory was overshadowed by an injury suffered by Panthers captain Sasha Barkov during the third period

The Florida Panthers finished out their three-game swing in California with a resounding win, but there may be bigger concerns as they head back home.

Florida defeated the host Anaheim Ducks 2-1, but Panthers captain Sasha Barkov left the game during the third period with an apparent lower-body injury and did not return.

The game started out on a positive note for the Panthers, who came out fired up despite being on the second night of a back-to-back,

Perhaps the extra energy had something to do with top defensemen Aaron Ekblad and Brandon Montour making their regular season debuts for the Panthers.

Once things settled down, the Ducks and Panthers would end up trading chances for much of the first period.

A very quick give-and-go below the Ducks goal line by Eetu Luostarinen and Anton Lundell would end with Eetu scoring his first goal of the season and giving Florida a 1-0 lead.

That same line had a spectacular shift about three minutes later, pinning Anaheim deep in its own end and forcing multiple turnovers before Oliver Ekman-Larsson blasted the puck bast Ducks goalie John Gibson.

Florida ended up with 16 shots during the opening frame, happily taking a 2-0 lead into the intermission.

Former Ducks goaltender Anthony Stolarz got the start in a building he’s quite familiar and he came up big for the Panthers during the first half of the second period, stopping Ryan Strome and Adam Henrique with nice breakaway saves.

Entering the third period, Florida had 30 shots on 69 attempts, including 29 blocks by the Ducks.

During the first minute of the third, Panthers captain Sasha Barkov was caught with a knee-on-knee hit by Anaheim defenseman Jackson LaCombe.

Barkov left the game after slowly skating off the ice, and LaCombe was given a two-minute minor for tripping after officials reviewed the play for a major but deemed it unworthy of the more severe call.

After Florida failed to score on consecutive third period power plays, Anaheim wouldn’t make the same mistake when given their own man advantage.

Former Panther Frank Vatrano spoiled Stolarz shutout bid and cut Florida’s lead to 2-1 when he splashed the net at the 7:39 mark.

The Ducks thought they tied the game on a Jakob Silfverberg wraparound a few minutes later, but after a lengthy review officials determined that the puck never crossed the goal line, but boy was it close.

Stolarz continued to come up big for the Panthers, making several key stops down the stretch to secure the victory for Florida.

Now the focus shifts to Barkov and his health status.

Florida’s next game will be Monday night when they host the Edmonton Oilers at Amerant Bank Arena.

Here are some thoughts and observations from Friday’s battle on the duck pond:

Friday's win was the 1,000th in Panthers franchise history. Seems fitting it came against the team Florida came into the league with. 

Reuniting Luostarinen and Lundell once again produced encouraging results. At even strength, their line with Nick Cousins was solid in terms of possession numbers while outshooting the Ducks 7-3 and doubling them up on scoring chances at 4-2.

Stolarz stopped nine of the 10 high danger shots Anaheim got off. He finished with 33 saves.

Once again the Panthers failed to capitalize on the power play, coming up empty on four opportunities.

Florida’s healthy scratches were forward Steven Lorentz and defensemen Uvis Balinskis and Mike Reilly. 

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