Struggling Panthers may be without Jagr against visting Lightning
SUNRISE, Fla. -- Right winger Jaromir Jagr, who at 44 is the grand old man of Florida Panthers hockey, has a groin injury and is questionable to play Monday night against the visiting Tampa Bay Lightning.
"He had a little bit of cramp in his groin," Panthers coach Gerard Gallant told the media on Sunday. "I don't think it's anything too serious. But he is sore. He's day to day."
Another issue for the Panthers is goalie Roberto Luongo, who has lost four games in a row. He has allowed 12 goals in those four losses.
The Panthers say they are not concerned about Luongo's play. But you have to wonder if the 37-year-old is starting to lose a bit off his proverbial fastball in his 18th NHL season.
Florida, which won the Atlantic Division last season, is off to a poor start with a 5-6-1 record. They are last in the Atlantic, already 10 points behind the first-place Montreal Canadiens.
The Lightning (7-4-1) have 15 points and are in second place in the Atlantic, six points behind Montreal.
Tampa Bay has played the Panthers just once this season, defeating Florida 4-3 in a shootout.
The Lightning are coming off a 4-1 win over the New Jersey Devils on Saturday night. Still, Tampa Bay is worried about its consistently slow starts.
In 12 games, the Lightning has led just twice after one period. They have trailed six times and played to a scoreless draw on four occasions.
The Lightning tends to turn the puck over far too often in opening periods, and that keeps them from getting out on that attack.
That's what happened in Saturday's first period as Tampa Bay trailed New Jersey 1-0 after the opening 20 minutes.
"It's an issue," Lightning coach Jon Cooper told the media. "There's no question."
Tampa Bay goalie Ben Bishop (5-3-0) has been solid -- he had 37 saves against the Devils. But his goals-against average (3.01) is high for him. His GAA was 2.06 last season.
Perhaps Luongo is not the only goalie with something to prove on Monday.
Offensively, Tampa Bay has a deep and dangerous group of forwards, led by Steven Stamkos, who signed an eight-year contract extension in the offseason that will pay him $8.5 million per season on average.
Stamkos has seven goals and seven assists this season, and his 14 points are second on the team behind Nikita Kucherov (four goals, 11 assists, 15 points).
Defenseman Victor Hedman, who also signed a big-money extension in the offseason -- eight years, $7.9 million per season, is the team's third-leading scorer. He has three goals and seven assists.
For Florida, its top three scorers are all surprises: forwards Jon Marchessault (six goals, six assists), Vincent Trocheck (six goals, two assists) and Colton Sceviour (five goals, three assists).
Marchessault and Sceviour weren't even with the team last season, both signing low-money, two-year free-agent contracts on July 1.
Some of the team's bigger names are injured and out long term (forwards Jonathan Huberdeau, Jussi Jokinen and Nick Bjugstad), out with a nagging injury (Jagr, possibly) or slumping (star center Aleksander Barkov has two goals and three assists).
Luongo (3-5-0) hasn't been as sharp as normal, but his GAA isn't terrible at 2.53.
What ails Luongo and the team overall is nothing that couldn't be greatly helped with a win on Monday night.
In other news regarding the game:
The Panthers waived defenseman Steven Kampfer and recalled defenseman Jakub Kindl, 29, from their American Hockey League affiliate, the Springfield Thunderbirds.
Kampfer had been a healthy scratch for 11 of the Panthers' 12 games this season.
Kindl, a native of the Czech Republic, was the Detroit Red Wings' first-round pick, No. 19 overall, in 2005. Last season, he had two assists in 19 games for the Panthers and two goals and four assists in 25 games for Detroit.
The Lightning recalled forward Cory Conacher from AHL Syracuse. With forward Jonathan Drouin listed as day to day with an injury, Conacher's presence provides insurance for Tampa Bay.
