The Florida Panthers are usually not off to an amazing begin to their three-peat quest. Even after beating the Los Angeles Kings on Wednesday, they’re a degree out of the playoffs. The Panthers lost Evan Rodrigues to an injury on Wednesday, but Paul Maurice quelled any concerns in his postgame press conference.
“Maurice says lower-body injury for Rodrigues, but ‘we don’t think it’s too significant.’ Should get an update tomorrow,” team reporter Jameson Coop posted on social media.
Rodrigues was a key member of the underside six for the Panthers on each of their Stanley Cup Final runs. When it looked like they would want to make a trade for salary cap purposes this offseason, they went out of their strategy to keep the veteran. Despite the fact that he didn’t finish the sport, they hope to have him back soon for the playoff push.
Rodrigues actually left the sport twice, returning for the Panthers after getting hit within the face with a puck. However the lower-body injury he suffered early within the third period knocked him out for the remaining of the sport. That meant that Brad Marchand needed to search out a brand new strategy to do his rat tradition after wins.
Brad Marchand carried on his postgame tradition solo tonight after Evan Rodrigues left injured. Hockey heartbreak in real time.#BradMarchand #EvanRodrigues #NHL #HockeyTraditionpic.twitter.com/5wwNOooK6A
— Layla Khalifa (@Layla1160977) December 18, 2025
The Panthers have turned it up of late, jumping to ninth within the Eastern Conference from near the basement. They’ve done that with a 6-1-1 record of their last eight games. The Eastern Conference is tightly contested from top to bottom, with all 16 teams over NHL .500. Florida has taken advantage of the tight pack to leap back into playoff contention.
One other injury can be detrimental to the Panthers, nevertheless. Aleksander Barkov is out for the foreseeable future after tearing his ACL, and Matthew Tkachuk has not returned from his lower-body injuries from last season. Rodrigues might be key for the club until those forwards return.