11/19/25 01:45:00
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11/19 13:43 CST Panthers' Eetu Luostarinen will miss time because of a barbecue
mishap, adding to team's injury woes
Panthers' Eetu Luostarinen will miss time because of a barbecue mishap, adding
to team's injury woes
By TIM REYNOLDS
AP Sports Writer
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) --- The two-time defending Stanley Cup champion
Florida Panthers are now dealing with even more injuries, including one
sustained in a grilling accident.
And coach Paul Maurice, when looking at the big picture, is seeing all of this
as a way for the champs to get even better.
Forward Eetu Luostarinen will be listed as week to week, Maurice said
Wednesday, with what he described as "a barbequing mishap." But the
already-shorthanded Panthers don't seem to have a concrete timeline in mind for
Luostarinen's return.
"We don't have a lot of experience with this," Maurice said. "When he comes
back and feels comfortable with the equipment on him, away we go."
And forward Cole Schwindt, who the Panthers claimed off waivers last month to
help with their injury problems, is now on the injury list himself. Schwindt
will need surgery in the coming days to repair a broken arm and the Panthers
expect that he'll miss 2-3 months.
Luostarinen and Schwindt become the latest entries on an injury log for the
Panthers that already included long-term issues for captain Aleksander Barkov
(preseason ACL tear), Dmitry Kulikov (upper body), Jonah Gadjovich (upper
body), Tomas Nosek (knee) and Matthew Tkachuk (groin). Barkov, Kulikov,
Gadjovich and Nosek all still have months to go in their recoveries; Tkachuk
may start skating by the end of this month and could make his season debut
sometime in December.
It is not at all what the Panthers expected to start the season. But that's
where Maurice sees opportunity; the roster depletions have forced Florida to
change its playing style somewhat, and he thinks that could wind up providing
valuable lessons.
"There's an awful lot of good if you can capture, if you can learn some new
things, things that you have to learn to survive," Maurice said. "And that's
really in some ways what we're doing, is trying to survive. When you get to
seven guys out of your lineup, you've got a problem. We can survive that and
then learn through the adversity of it eventually.
"We're going to have, slightly after the trade deadline, the biggest movement
in the league," he added. "We're going to get some players back. We can be a
better team than we were going into the playoffs last year, if we can learn how
to do this. It's just going to be hard. It's going to be uncomfortable right
now. And we've got to be good with that."
The Panthers expect that rookie forward Jack Devine, part of two NCAA title
teams at Denver and twice a Hobey Baker Award finalist before turning pro last
year, will make his NHL debut on Thursday in a home game against New Jersey.
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