Center Eetu Luostarinen spends week after week with burns he suffered during a barbecue accident, head coach Paul Maurice told reporters Wednesday.
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“We included it week by week because we don’t have a lot of experience with this,” Maurice said, according to the Miami Herald. “When he returns, he will have to feel comfortable putting the equipment back on. He did not spend the night in the hospital, but he was treated by doctors.”
Luostarinen reportedly suffered burns to his lower body after his gas grill malfunctioned.
His off-ice injury is the second to make NHL headlines in the last week, as New Jersey Devils center Jack Hughes injured his finger in what was reported as a “freak accident” during a team dinner last Thursday. Hughes required surgery and is expected to be out for approximately eight weeks.
In addition to losing Luostarinen for the time being, the Panthers are now down another center. During the first period of Florida’s 8-5 win over the Vancouver Canucks on Monday, Cole Schwindt collided with his own goalie, Sergei Bobrovsky, and broke his right arm.
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Schwindt will likely have surgery next week and will be sidelined for two or three months, Maurice said, according to the Herald.
The Panthers are currently 13th in the Eastern Conference standings with 21 points and 10-8-1. They have dealt with a litany of injuries this season as they try to become the first NHL team to win three years in a row since the New York Islanders hoisted four consecutive Stanley Cups from 1980 to 1983.
From the start, Florida has been without its two best forwards: Captain Alexander Barkov suffered ACL and ACL injuries in the preseason, and winger Matthew Tkachuk underwent surgery this summer, reportedly to repair a torn adductor muscle and a sports hernia he suffered while playing for Team USA in the 4 Nations international tournament in February.
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That said, David Dwork of The Hockey News reported Wednesday that he heard Tkachuk has started skating and could return to the Panthers lineup sometime in December.
But defenseman Dmitry Kulikov, winger Jonah Gadjovich and forward Tomas Nosek, who are recovering from upper body, upper body and knee injuries, respectively, still have months of recovery left, according to The Associated Press.
Maurice, however, sees the glass as half full. He believes overcoming this adversity will benefit the Panthers when it matters most.
“We’re going to have, shortly after the trade deadline, the biggest movement in the league,” Maurice said, according to the AP. “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.
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“It’s going to be difficult. It’s going to be uncomfortable right now. And we have to be good about it.”