Sam Bennett leaves game with injury in 2023-24 season debut

Talk about bad luck.

The Florida Panthers announced that Sam Bennett would not return for the third period of Monday’s game against the Boston Bruins after injuring his left ankle.

Bennett was near the Bruins’ left post while battling with Hampus Lindholm. The 27-year-old winger was battling with Lindholm when they connected feet after a puck went through the crease. Bennett went down in a significant amount of pain and would not return.

He was eventually helped off the ice, but was unable to put any weight on his left leg before limping back to Florida’s locker room.

Bennett suffered a lower-body injury during a preseason game back on October 5 before finally getting cleared for full practice just last week.

Drafted fourth overall by the Calgary Flames in 2014, is in his fourth season with the Panthers since coming over in a trade from Calgary in 2020-21. Bennett had a career-best 49 points with the club in 2021-22 before registering 40 in 63 games last year. Bennett was an integral piece of Florida’s run to the 2023 Stanley Cup final, scoring five goals and 15 points in 20 games.

Bennett has 117 goals and 244 points in 546 career games over 10 seasons.