Eetu Luostarinen from week to week after the barbecue accident

Dinner-related injuries continue to pile up in the National Hockey League. Just a few days later Jack Hughes cut his hand in the team event – which required surgery and will cost him eight weeks or more – Florida Panthers striker Eetu Luostarinen had his unfortunate accident.

Luostarinen is week to week after suffering burns during a barbecue accidenthead coach Paul Morris told reporters Wednesday. It’s a disappointing update for many reasons, one of which is that the Panthers were already riddled with injuries at the start of the 2025-26 season.

The Finn now joins Sasha Barkov, Matthew Tkachuk, Dmitry Kulikov, Joni Gadjovic and Tomasz Nosek on the shelf. That’s just a brutal stretch of luck for a Florida team that’s 10-8-1 and currently on the outside looking in on the Eastern Conference playoff picture.

Luostarinen has three goals and 10 points in 18 games this season, mostly skating with team-leading scorer Brad Marchand and countryman Anton Lundell in the top six. That line has been great this year — as it will be during the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs — but now it will be split for at least a few weeks.

To make matters worse, 24-year-old Cole Schwind broke his hand in a collision with goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky during Monday night’s 8-5 win over the Vancouver Canucks. He is expected to be out for 2-3 months and will undergo surgery, Morris confirmed. He scored two goals in 10 games this year.

Mackie Samoskevich will get the starting point guard with Marchand and Lundell, while Sam Reinhart, Evan Rodrigues and Jesper Boqvist round out the top two lines. Sam Bennett and Carter Verhe are playing together on the third line amid challenging starts for both players.

Injuries are taking their toll on the Panthers, but there is a silver lining

The Panthers really needed Bennett and Verhaeghe to step up in the absence of some key forwards, but instead, the two managed just 17 points combined in 38 contests.

Mostly, Marchand (23 points in 18 games), Lundell (16 in 19) and Reinhart (16 in 19) fixed the deadlock. But no other forward on the roster has more than 10 points, which is a concern.

On the bright side, Tkachuk has started skating and reportedly intends to return in the composition in the next month. His return will be a huge boost for the defending Stanley Cup champions, but until then the Panthers will have to tread water with a very depleted group.

Florida is still playing at a level just above .500, but that pace won’t be good enough to propel them into a postseason berth in a crowded Eastern Conference.

Next up for the Panthers is a visit from the New Jersey Devils on Thursday night; the puck should drop shortly after 7:00 PM ET from Amerant Bank Arena.