Should Panthers’ slow start cause concern despite injuries?

The two-time reigning Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers are going for a third title in a row, and they’re doing so on a high difficulty setting.

Captain Aleksander Barkov is out and is not due back anytime soon with a lower-body injury, and star winger Matthew Tkachuk has been absent all year, though his return may be more imminent.

Without their two stars up front, the Panthers are 10-8-1, and they’ve lacked the dominance that’s become synonymous with their team on both ends of the ice.

On Wednesday’s episode of Daily Faceoff LIVE, host Tyler Yaremchuk and co-host and former NHL goaltender Carter Hutton were joined by former NHL video coach Steve Peters to discuss Florida’s up-and-down start and what may be stopping them from finding consistent success.

Tyler Yaremchuk: I guess we should give some love to the defending champions in the Florida Panthers. It’s been an average start. We all know about the injuries that they’re dealign with. They’re missing two of the best forwards in Barkov and Tkachuk. Are you just kind of of the belief like everyone is that they’ll snap their fingers when Tkachuk comes back and rattle off eight straight wins at some point, or are there concerns with how Florida’s playing?

Steve Peters: See, I’m one of those that’s concerned. And I think if this was just after one Cup win it would be a little different. They’ve won twice, and it’s hard to be hungry when you’re full. Everybody in that locker room is going, “Eh, we’ll just turn it on.” Their expectations are that this is the bar that we’ve set, and we’ll turn it on when these guys come back. It’s hard, and you look at some of their top players. Bennett’s not having the season that he wanted to have out of the gate. This is a team that has really struggled, especially on the road. They’re solid at home, and they need to get their game going both home and road.

You can watch the full segment and the rest of the episode here…