Panthers Aleksander Barkov out ‘two to three’ weeks with lower-body injury

Panthers head coach Paul Maurice said on Saturday that captain Aleksander Barkov would be out for what they think to be “two to three weeks” after sustaining a lower-body injury on Thursday night in Ottawa.

After breaking his stick on a shot, Barkov crashed into the boards — feet-first — in an attempt to stop an empty net goal.

The 29-year-old star forward was very slow to get to his feet, requiring assistance from a team trainer and his teammates before gingerly making his way to the Panthers’ dressing room.

According to Sportsnet insider Elliotte Friedman, imaging showed that Barkov did not sustain a fracture — presumably to his foot.

Anytime without their two-time Selke winner will be tough for Florida, but his absence being just a few weeks is a small positive to the situation.

His projected timetable to return is right in line with the Panthers’ trip to Finland, where they’ll play two games against the Dallas Stars — Nov. 1-2 —  in Barkov’s hometown of Tampere.

With Barkov out, the Panthers brought up rookie forward Patrick Giles on Monday from AHL Charlotte.

Giles, 24, gets the early season call up following an impressive training camp — where he made a case to make the opening-night roster.

To make room for Giles, Florida placed forward Tomas Nosek on Long-Term Injured Reserve. Nosek(upper-body) hasn’t played this regular season. Nosek was previously on IR.

Giles is expected to make his NHL debut tonight in Buffalo.

Without Barkov, Florida will have to do some line juggling. It appears that the Luostarinen, Lundell, Reinhart line from 2023 will make a comeback — they were taking reps together during Saturday’s morning skate, per Panthers’ Sr. Digital Content Manager Jameson Olive.