SUNRISE, Fla. — Sam Bennett couldn’t play Tuesday night for the Florida Panthers, though the team doesn’t expect his absence to go on for much longer.
Bennett, the Panthers’ second-leading scorer this season, was scratched from the lineup against the New Jersey Devils with an upper-body injury. The Panthers lost 4-1, seeing their seven-game winning streak end.
It’s unclear when the injury occurred, and Panthers coach Paul Maurice said after the team’s morning skate Tuesday that he anticipated no lineup changes for the game other than Spencer Knight starting in net over Sergei Bobrovsky.
Bennett wasn’t part of that morning skate after something “tightened up,” Maurice said, and the issue didn’t improve throughout the day.
“We don’t even know if it’ll keep him out of another game,” Maurice said. “He may come back in (Wednesday) and be 100% fine. And if not, it wouldn’t be a long-term situation.”
Mackie Samoskevich slotted into the forward lines in Bennett’s spot Tuesday.
Bennett had nine goals and six assists through Florida’s first 15 games. His 15 points trail only Sam Reinhart on the team so far this season and represent his best start to a season. Bennett’s previous best through 15 games came two seasons ago, when he had 10 points.
In his 11th NHL season, Bennett has exactly 300 points — 146 goals and 154 assists — in 630 games with Calgary and Florida. He also had seven goals and seven assists in Florida’s run to the Stanley Cup last season.
The Panthers play host to New Jersey again on Thursday night and host Winnipeg on Saturday.