Well, the lower-body injury that Aleksander Barkov has suffered is indeed worse than a day-to-day issue, as he was placed on the Injured Reserve on Friday and the coaching staff are expecting him to miss 2-to-3 weeks.
The Panthers are dropping like a rock in the Eastern Conference standings, losing their last three games in overtime and they are now 4 points out of the last spot in the Atlantic Division, the closest playoff spot available to them. The Panthers are already without Jonathan Huberdeau and now the loss of Barkov will certainly hurt moving forward, but it sounds like Reilly Smith will be good to go this weekend.
Barkov has posted 9 goals and 27 points in 36 games this season, ranking him 62nd overall in pool scoring after Thursday night, but that ranking will fall in the next couple weeks, for sure. Taking that kind of offense out of the lineup is certainly going to hurt the cat's chances at moving back into the playoff picture.
Stacey M.'s chances at moving up into the money have also taken a pretty good hit with the injury, as her team ranks 15th, 24 points out of 3rd place and her best forward is now out. Unfortunately, Barkov is her best forward by a lot, not just a little bit. This one is going to sting.
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