Panthers captain Ed Jovanovski will miss the club’s next two games after suffering a knee injury during Tuesday’s loss to the Lightning.
Jovanovski, 36, was hurt when he went knee-on-knee with Tampa Bay forward B.J. Crombeen and only played one shift in the third period before leaving the contest.
On Thursday, Panthers head coach Kevin Dineen said Jovanovski visited Dr. John Uribe in Miami on Wednesday, and that the examination revealed no structural damage to the knee.
Losing Jovanovski will undoubtedly hurt a Florida team already decimated by injury. He’s averaged close to 17 minutes per game (racking up one assist) and now enters the infirmary alongside Erik Gudbranson, Stephen Weiss and Sean Bergenheim.
On the bright side for Florida, one player will soon be returning from injury -- Marcel Goc.
The German forward will make his season debut on Thursday against the Jets, after missing the first six games of the regular season with an ankle injury.