Panthers injury and lineup updates

FORT LAUDERDALE — After falling 8-7 to the Tampa Bay Lightning Wednesday night in Orlando, the Florida Panthers were back home for a quick practice session before they head to Carolina for Friday’s matchup against the Hurricanes.

The ‘NHL heavy’ group skated first on Thursday as none of them played on Wednesday night. That group — with the likes of Aleksander Barkov, Matthew Tkachuk, Gustav Forsling and Sergei Bobrovsky — didn’t travel for Wednesday’s game and won’t be playing Friday in Carolina either. 

The second group to skate consisted mostly of those who played on Wednesday — with defensemen Uvis Balinskis and Matt Kiersted (recovery day) being the only two absentees. Evan Nause and Zach Uens — who didn’t play on Wednesday — took part in the skate. 

The Panthers injury carousel continues to grow as forward Justin Sourdif is officially week-to-week with an upper-body injury. Panthers head coach Paul Maurice said Sourdif does not have a concussion, but he did have to get about a dozen stitches on his face after crashing into the boards at Tuesday’s practice. He will be out 3-4 weeks before they get him back on the ice, which means he’s out for the remainder of the preseason. 

Anton Lundell didn’t skate on Thursday and will be day-to-day with a “minor lower-body” injury, per Maurice. 

Mackie Samoskevich (upper-body) remains out. He did IR skate before the two full-team sessions.  

Like Sourdif, Tomas Nosek is also (upper-body) and his timetable is “weeks not days”.

While the Sourdif and Nosek injuries were tough blows for two guys who had a good shot of grabbing a spot on the roster, it has opened a path for a those who were on the outside looking in to steal a job.

24-year-old Patrick Giles is one of the players who jumped up the depth chart as a result of injuries. 

On Wednesday, Giles centered the top line (which would be the projected fourth-line for the regular season) and he had a great game — picking up two assists in the loss. He has four points (1G, 3A) in two preseason games. 

Maurice was asked if there was a young player that stood out to him. Giles was one name that came to mind. 

“I’m always careful with that because you miss some people. It should be a long list,” Maurice said. “Patrick Giles has made huge improvements in his speed. Two years ago we thought he was a big man that had some hands around the net — you saw that in the goal the other night. He took it from his skates to his stick to the bar really quickly. But he’s had a whole new level of conditioning and speed, so we’re certainly interested to see how he develops.”

Maurice said Giles will once again center the projected fourth-line on Friday.

Look Ahead

The Panthers will fly to Raleigh to face the Carolina Hurricanes on Friday, September 27 at the Lenovo Center. Puck drop is at 6 p.m. ET.

Group 2 lines on Thursday

GREER – GILES – J. BOQVIST

GADJOVICH – ASPLUND – LOCKWOOD

DAVIES – ENTWISTLE – SKOOG

MCALLISTER – DALPE – VILMANIS

SCHMIDT- A. BOQVIST

BJORNFOT-HOVORKA

UENS-NAUSE

DRIEDER

BLACK

APPELBY