Matthew Tkachuk has not been on the ice with the Florida Panthers since early February, Aaron Ekblad is not eligible to play again until Game 3 of the first round of the playoffs, and Brad Marchand has yet to debut with his new team since coming at the trade deadline.

Those are huge holes down the stretch, but they keep rolling. The Panthers have won nine of their first 14 games since the NHL season resumed following the 4 Nations Face-Off break, and they lead the Atlantic Division with 11 games still to play. Seth Jones has fit in wonderfully since being acquired from Chicago, and the defending Stanley Cup champions appear to be on track for another postseason run.

“That’s the way it goes,” said Sam Bennett, who has 12 points in this time, tied with captain Aleksander Barkov for second on the team behind Sam Reinhart (13). “You’re going to be missing important players at crucial times of the year. In the playoffs, especially, there will be times when you lose guys, and it is up to us to step up, and every guy needs to play a little harder, play a little bigger when those very essential guys are out of the lineup.” Tkachuk, Florida’s heart-and-soul top striker, was injured while playing for the United States at the 4 Nations tournament on February 15. On March 10, Ekblad, a top-four defenseman in his 11th season, received a 20-game suspension for performance-enhancing substances.

And the team knew Marchand would be unavailable right away after being injured March 1 in what turned out to be his final game with the Boston Bruins. Coach Paul Maurice says the 36-year-old is skating hard and could return by the end of this week, if not early April.

Even without those players, the Panthers have allowed only two goals per game throughout this run, which is tied for the fewest in the NHL. “What separates them and why I think they’re the best defending team in the league is they protect the net front and the slot better than anybody in the NHL for my money,” Washington Capitals coach Spencer Carbery said before his club’s victory over Florida on Saturday. “And that’s partly the way that their structure is, so the system, but also the commitment to win your 1-on-1 (matchups) and protect that area is elite, elite, elite.” Maurice believes the Panthers have handled the situation admirably, with the exception of a humbling 3-1 loss in Montreal. After losing against Washington.