Florida Panthers’ Aleksander Barkov injured late in loss to Ottawa Senators. What we know

Florida Panthers captain and top-line center Aleksander Barkov sustained a lower-body injury late in their 3-1 loss to the Ottawa Senators on Thursday at Canadian Tire Centre to start a four-game road trip.

Panthers coach Paul Maurice did not have an immediate update on Barkov postgame other than Barkov is “going to get looked at here tonight and probably tomorrow as well.” The team is not scheduled to practice on Friday as they travel to Buffalo for their Saturday game against the Sabres, so a formal update might not come until morning skate Saturday.

The injury occurred with 1:10 left in regulation when Barkov skated down the length of the ice in an attempt to defend Ottawa forward Tim Stutzle, who was charging toward an empty Panthers net. Barkov, whose stick broke on a shot attempt before this exchange, laid out his body trying to stop the shot and keep Florida at a one-goal deficit, but Stutzle scored his second goal of the game and Barkov crashing feet first into the boards.

Barkov stayed down for a couple minutes while being checked on by a team trainer. Forward Evan Rodrigues and defenseman Uvis Balinskis had to help Barkov off the ice.

“I don’t really know what happened yet,” Panthers center Anton Lundell told reporters postgame. “I just saw he went down and obviously we don’t want to see that. Can’t say much right now. Hopefully, he is OK and it [wasn’t something] bigger.”

The Panthers (1-1-0) played from behind throughout the game as Linus Ullmark made 30 saves in his Ottawa debut and Stutzle scored twice for the Senators.

Shane Pinto also scored for the Senators (1-0-0). Ullmark, obtained in a June trade with the Boston Bruins, made 16 saves in the third period.

Travis Green was a winner in his Senators coaching debut.

Gustav Forsling scored for the Panthers, who were opening a four-game road trip. Sergei Bobrovsky made 28 saves for the defending Stanley Cup champions.

Florida had Ottawa on its heels throughout the second half of the third period with Ullmark making a series of saves around the 13-minute mark. Minutes later, Florida’s Aaron Ekblad was called for a holding penalty, breaking the momentum.

Stutzle gave the Senators a 1-0 lead with a power-play goal at 5:52 of the first period. He took a pass at the point from Josh Norris, drifted toward the slot and fired a wrist shot through traffic and past Bobrovsky.

Pinto made it 2-0 at 10:42 when he picked up a loose puck in the defensive zone, entered the Panthers end 2-on-1 with David Perron, kept the puck and scored far side from the right circle.

Ottawa outshot Florida 17-8 over the first 20 minutes.

Ullmark made a strong pad save on Nate Schmidt’s wrist shot near the end of a Panthers power play at 7:35 of the second period.

Forsling pulled the Panthers within 2-1 at 15:48 of the period. The Panthers worked the puck behind the Senators net and Sam Bennett passed to Forsling, who scored on a slap shot from the point that beat Ullmark glove side.

Field Level Media contributed to this report.