Your plants should react as though you pinched the stalks - I do this with Echinacea 'Summer Sky' because it is very floppy, and occasionally trim off flower buds so for other reasons - to delay blooming, produce a bushier plant, or let the plant put more energy into roots and shoots.

I think your plant will be okay as long as the ground hog didn't eat all the leaves off, which would severely deplete the plant. If it ate only the buds, you will probably get side shoots that will flower.

In the meantime use a barrier or repellent to protect the plant.