Almost exactly a year after his season ended because of an ankle injury, Aaron Ekblad was again down on the ice Friday and unable to put any weight on one of his legs as he tried to get back to the Florida Panthers’ bench.
A routine hit turned into a freak collision and the star defenseman’s right knee buckled beneath him.
A skirmish broke out and Ekblad crawled around on the ice, unable to even rise to his feet on his own.
The Panthers called it a lower-body injury and ruled him out during the first intermission of their 3-0 win against the Anaheim Ducks and it gave Florida a serious scare in the finale of a four-game West Coast swing.
“We obviously don’t know the result,” defenseman Brandon Montour told Bally Sports Florida after the first period. “What happened was a scary incident. ... Hopefully better news than worse news.”
With 18:55 left in the first period, Ducks defenseman Cam Fowler checked Ekblad against the boards and star center Aleksander Barkov, who lost his footing near the play, slid in feet first and tripped the two skaters.
Ekblad’s knee bent awkwardly and the two-time All-Star went down. He needed help from trainers to finally get up to his feet.
Even then, he couldn’t put any weight on his right leg as he clambered off the ice in front of a hushed crowd at the Honda Center.
Ekblad retreated back to the dressing room for further evaluation, leaving Florida with six defensemen — interim coach Andrew Brunette happened to dress eight with right wing Patric Hornqvist injured — and a deeper concern about Ekblad’s long-term status.
The injury comes nearly a year after Ekblad fractured his left ankle last season.
That injury knocked Ekblad out for the remainder of the regular season and the 2021 Stanley Cup playoffs, but he was able to return by the start of the training camp and didn’t miss a beat, quickly returning right into contention for the Norris Trophy with 57 points and the league’s fourth most defensive point shares.
No one has been on the ice for more goals this season than Ekblad and his 15 goals are fourth most among NHL defensemen.
On Thursday, Ekblad set the franchise record for points by a defenseman by dishing out three assists in a loss to the Vegas Golden Knights. He has 291 points in his career, all with Florida.
The injury mired an otherwise spectacular performance for the Panthers in Anaheim.
All-Star left wing Jonathan Huberdeau scored twice in the first period as Florida outshot the Ducks, 19-4, and forward Joe Thornton added another in the second while the Panthers outshot Anaheim, 15-8.
Huberdeau now has 86 points this season, one behind Edmonton Oilers center Connor McDavid for the league lead.
Florida doubled up the Ducks in shot attempts, shots on goal and scoring chances.
The Panthers finished with 42 shots on goal and rookie goaltender Spencer Knight, who made his fourth straight start with star goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky ailing, stopped all 17 shots he faced for his first NHL shutout.
The win puts Florida back into first place in the Eastern Conference in terms of both points and points percentage, but the final 20 games may be about to get more difficult of Ekblad misses significant time.
General manager Bill Zito could face a major challenge this weekend: The trade deadline is Monday and the Panthers added a defenseman Thursday.
Now he may need to go find another and this one may have to be a replacement for one of the league’s best.
