‘We got lucky’: Sasha Barkov day-to-day after taking knee-on-knee hit
Paul Maurice ruled Barkov out for Monday’s game against Edmonton
The Florida Panthers skated at Amerant Bank Arena on Sunday for the first time in a week after returning from a three-game California road trip.
Florida was able to pick up a pair of wins, Tuesday in San Jose and Friday in Anaheim, but the success was overshadowed by an injury suffered by Panthers captain Sasha Barkov.
It happened during the third period of Florida’s 2-1 win over the Ducks.
Barkov was skating through the neutral zone when Anaheim defenseman Jackson LaCombe stuck his leg out and caught Barkov with a knee-on-knee hit.
After falling to the ice in apparent pain, Barkov gingerly skated off the ice and went straight to the Panthers locker room.
LaCombe was initially issued a five-minute major on the play, but after officials reviewed video of the hit, they downgraded the punishment to a two-minute minor.
Barkov did not skate during Sunday’s practice.
Afterwards, Florida Head Coach Paul Maurice provided an update on his top line center, and fortunately for the Panthers, it sounds like Barkov may have avoided any significant injuries.
“It was direct on the knee, and it was soft tissue, it wasn’t a bone bruise,” said Maurice. “We got lucky, because those are dangerous, dangerous plays.”
Maurice said Barkov is considered day-to-day and that he would miss Monday night’s game against the Edmonton Oilers.
“We’re still looking at it,” Maurice said. “We didn’t (place him on IR), but we can, and that would take him into the weekend.”
The Panthers also have home games this week against Boston on Wednesday and Winnipeg on Friday.
When Barkov does resume skating, Maurice said he would like to see him “get some practices in” before he returns for a game.
Maurice indicated that the decision to potentially place Barkov on IR retroactively would depend how the injury heals as the week progresses.
“Every day he comes in, you check the swelling, you check the strength, check the range of motion, and it either gets better or it plateaus,” Maurice said. “So that's what extends these things. And then if it got to a certain point, we could back date the IR and bring somebody in if we need to. Right now we won't. We'll just play it day by day.”
Center Anton Lundell skated in Barkov’s spot on Florida’s top line during Sunday’s practice, flanked by Carter Verhaeghe and Sam Reinhart.
“You can win with any lineup in the National Hockey League on any given night,” Maurice said. “We've seen it done with eight, nine guys out of your lineup. You can win any night, you just can't win long term. And we did, we survived 16 games without the defenseman (Aaron Ekblad and Brandon Montour) and (Sam) Bennett, but to get on runs and to stay on runs, you need your team.”
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