Florida Panthers hang on to beat Stars after Aaron Ekblad goes down with scary leg injury
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Aaron Ekblad knew as soon as he landed something was wrong. The defenseman landed awkwardly on his left leg after taking a hit from Esa Lindell against the boards at American Airlines Arena and immediately grabbed at his left knee when he crumpled to the ground. He pounded the ice and summoned for help. At least half a dozen of his teammates surrounded him when he finally left the ice on a stretcher.
The Florida Panthers eventually beat the Dallas Stars, 4-1, on Sunday in Dallas, but they skated the final 31:02 with shell-shocked faces and the health of their top defenseman on their minds.
The Panthers’ injury list continues to grow and the latest addition seems to be the most serious and Florida struggled to regroup after Ekblad went down.
After they jumped out to a 3-1 lead in the first period by piling up 14 shots, the Panthers managed just four in the second, although three did come after Ekblad’s injury. Dallas ultimately outshot Florida, 34-23, as the Panthers just tried to survive and escape with another victory in Texas after a deflating injury.
Ekblad left with 11:02 left in the second period after a routine check turned into a nightmare scenario for Florida. The Panthers, who are already playing without star forwards Aleksander Barkov and Patric Hornqvist, now might be missing their best defenseman for an extended period of time.
Florida did not provide an immediate update on Ekblad’s status. Play stopped for more than five minutes while trainers attended to Ekblad, wrapped his knee in a cast and carried him off on a stretcher inside of a near-silent arena.
Ekblad’s injury came just a day after he played the hero in the Panthers’ overtime win against the Stars on Saturday. The 25-year-old scored an apparent game-winning goal in the final minute of overtime, only to have it wiped out because he was offsides. Less than a minute later, he actually scored with 9.3 seconds left to snap Florida’s season-long three-game losing streak.
On Sunday, Ekblad assisted All-Star left wing Jonathan Huberdeau on a goal in the first period for his 22nd point of the season — fifth most on the team. With 11 goals and 11 assists, Ekblad thrust himself into contention for the Norris Trophy, awarded to the NHL’s top defenseman.
With Ekblad sidelined, Riley Stillman moved into his spot next fellow defenseman MacKenzie Weegar on the Panthers’ top defensive pairing.
Ekblad’s injury left Florida without three of its top five scorers — Barkov missed his fourth straight game with a lower-body injury and Hornqvist missed his second straight with an undisclosed injury — and the Panthers managed just eight shots after he left.
Huberdeau’s best performance in weeks helped Florida survive.
The All-Star left wing scored twice in the first period to bust out of a weeks-long slump and push the Panthers out to a 3-1 lead, then he assisted on right wing Owen Tippett’s empty-net goal with 1:05 left to clinch the win.
Huberdeau, who hadn’t posted a multi-point game since March 15 and hadn’t scored a goal since March 18, scored once at even strength to give Florida a 1-0 lead, then on a power play with 6:23 left in the period to put the Panthers ahead 3-1.
The forward had just one goal in Florida’s previous 11 games before he scored twice in the first 14 minutes.
“I’ve got to shoot a little bit more,” Huberdeau told Fox Sports Florida, “so I did the first and it went in.”
Winger Anthony Duclair also scored on a penalty shot in the first period and the Panthers played most of the game with a two-goal lead.
It was enough for Chris Driedger. The goaltender made 33 saves on 34 shots to seal a second straight win and move the Panthers back within one point of the second-place Carolina Hurricanes in the Central Division.