Florida Panthers’ Sam Bennett to be “out at least a week” with upper-body injury

One of the key pieces in South Beach might be out for a few games.

On Wednesday, Florida Panthers head coach Paul Maurice revealed that forward Sam Bennett is going to be out for at least a week with an upper-body injury. Maurice mentioned that the injury was not as bad as the team originally thought, and Bennett will be reevaluated next week.

Fox Sports 640’s Andy Slater first reported that Sam Bennett would likely miss considerable time.

Bennett was injured during the second period of Game 2 on Tuesday night, when he got in the way of teammate Brandon Montour’s slapshot. Bennett immediately went down the tunnel, favoring his left hand, and did not return.

The 27-year-old had played well in the contest, scoring the game’s first goal, before picking up an assist on Vladimir Tarasenko’s tally in the first period. Bennett ended up playing 7:42, registering a plus-one rating before exiting the game prematurely.

The Panthers won the game 3-2 in overtime, thanks to Carter Verhaeghe’s fifth career playoff OT goal. Bennett also played 16:15 in Game 1 of the series on Sunday, which Florida won 3-2.

The former Calgary Flame was coming off another productive regular season with the Panthers. Bennett scored 20 goals and 41 points in 69 games, marking the third straight season he has hit the 40-point mark, with him scoring 20 goals for just the second time in his nine-year career.

In 615 career games, Bennett has scored 137 goals and 148 assists, with 44 points in 67 playoff games.

The Panthers and Lightning will meet at Amalie Arena at 7 p.m. ET on Thursday night.