More adversity for the Florida Panthers, but it’s still no problem.
The Panthers, who are hoping to make it a perfect three-game homestand on Saturday night against the Ottawa Senators, are suffering through a rash of injuries.
The latest case is defenseman Dmitry Kulikov, who suffered an apparent right arm injury after crashing into the boards in the second period of Florida’s 2-1 win over the Philadelphia Flyers on Thursday. He did not return.
“Anytime a guy goes down you have to pick up,” said Panthers defenseman Jeff Petry. “It’s not just the five guys on the back end. It’s the forwards making sure we get to pucks. I think everyone responded well.”
The Panthers, the two-time defending Stanley Cup champions, started this season without a pair of injured superstar forwards as Aleksander Barkov likely will miss at least the regular season and Matthew Tkachuk probably won’t return until January.
Even without Kulikov, the Panthers are still in good shape on defense with six established veterans: Aaron Ekblad, Gustav Forsling, Seth Jones, Niko Mikkola, Uvis Balinskis and Petry.
Panthers coach Paul Maurice is confident in his defensemen.
“All those guys can play big minutes,” Maurice said.
Looking ahead to Ottawa, Maurice said the Senators are a “different animal.”
“They have good speed,” Maurice said. “They have high-end players on the offensive side, and they can defend with speed. I don’t imagine we will generate as much. It will be a good battle. We will get tested.”
Indeed, the Senators went on the road Thursday for their season opener and defeated the Tampa Bay Lightning, 5-4.
The Senators stormed back from a 3-1 deficit in the third period. Ottawa’s standouts included Shane Pinto (two goals, one assist), Brady Tkachuk (three assists), Artem Zub (one goal, two assists), and Linus Ullmark (21 saves).
Ullmark is expected to start against Panthers counterpart Sergei Bobrovsky on Saturday.
Ottawa captain Brady Tkachuk, the younger brother of Florida’s Matthew Tkachuk, said this season’s Senators team is a more mature bunch.
“I think in the past, down 3-1, we would just try to score, score, score,” Tkachuk said. “But we just need to play our game, and I thought we did that (on Thursday). We trusted the process, and we trusted each other.”
The Senators, who made the playoffs last season after having missed the postseason in the previous seven campaigns, are a homegrown bunch.
Tkachuk, Ottawa’s first-round pick (fourth overall) in 2018, has scored at least 29 goals in each of the past four seasons.
Tim Stutzle, Ottawa’s first-round pick (third overall) in 2020, scored 24 goals last season and had 39 in 2022-2023.
Pinto, Ottawa’s second-round pick in 2019, had a career-high 21 goals last season.
Even with those forwards, Ottawa’s strength is defense. The Senators are led on the back end by the dynamic Jake Sanderson, Ottawa’s first-round pick (fifth overall) in 2020.
Thomas Chabot, Ottawa’s first-round pick in 2015, is another talented defenseman.
And then there’s Zub, a Russian who has spent his entire career with the Senators.
“(Zub) is one of the best defensive defensemen in the league,” Sanderson said. “If there’s a breakdown, you know he’s going to be there, and he’s strong in the corners. I think we’re a good tandem.”
