Just as he was catching fire this season, Ville Peltonen will be cooled off with a few weeks on the bench. Peltonen sustained a broken bone in his left foot during last Saturday’s 8-4 victory over the Atlanta Thrashers. Xrays have confirmed the broken bone and Peltonen has not skated in any practices yet this week.

Peltonen missed 24 games last season with a foot injury, but he insists this injury is not as severe and that he will be back on the ice sooner rather than later. It is believed that Peltonen will miss around 2 weeks before he returns. Peltonen has 8 goals and 11 assists this season, including 4 goals in the teams last 5 games.

Although Peltonen isn’t a pillar of the offense necessarily, he is prone to making timely contributions in games that the Panthers could miss over the duration of his injury. If nothing else, Peltonen’s absence means lines will be changed and/or shuffled and throw off the chemistry of a team that already faces the challenge of carrying their hot streak over to Friday’s game after having a 5 day break from games.