The Florida Panthers took a 2-0 series lead in the Stanley Cup Final Monday night, but they didn’t emerge unscathed. Captain Aleksander Barkov went down the tunnel with 10:32 remaining in the third period against the Edmonton Oilers after a hit up high from Leon Draisaitl.
Draisaitl appeared to elbow Barkov in head, leaving him down on the ice for more than a minute. Barkov eventually exited to the locker room while clutching his jaw and would not return for the rest of the night. Asked postgame how he felt about the hit, Panthers head coach Paul Maurice kept his remarks short.
“This isn’t the Oprah Winfrey show,” he said. “My feelings don’t matter.”
Maurice, often jovial in his press conferences, remained severe when discussing the hit. He did not provide an update on Barkov’s status, but immediately dismissed the notion that he stayed out of the game for precautionary reasons.
“There’s 9:28 on the clock, I believe, in a 2-1 game,” he said. “I’m not holding him.”
Multiple Panthers players declined to comment on Barkov postgame, including Matthew Tkachuk and Niko Mikkola. Forward Anton Lundell discussed the night’s physicality, including Draisaitl’s hit, but did not explicitly denounce it.
“It’s hard to say,” he said. “It’s not my decision to make those calls. But, you know, it’s playoffs. A lot happens. You need to be ready for everything. But it’s part of the game, it’s part of playoffs, so we just go out there, play hard, and try to do our best.”
A potential Barkov injury could prove a serious loss for Florida. With a point-per-game pace (6g, 13a in 19 GP), Barkov leads the team in goals this season and sits tied for first in points this postseason. He recorded his seventh multi-point night of the playoffs two-point night in Game 1 against Edmonton with two assists in the 3-0 victory.
“I mean, he’s our captain,” Lundell said. “We never want to miss him, but we hope it’s going to be okay. We hope he’s going to be back and we love him and hope he’s coming back, keep us strong.
After Barkov left the ice, the Panthers zeroed in on the remainder of the game. Officials assessed Draisaitl a two-minute roughing penalty for the hit, allowing Evan Rodrigues to score his second goal of the night on the man advantage.
“I think we rallied,” Rodrigues said of the Panthers’ response. “We did what we had to do to win the game. You never want to see your captain go down, but I thought everyone did a great job, focused in, got the job done.”
Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch spoke briefly on Draisaitl’s conduct after the game, suggesting that the head contact was accidental.
“I think he went in there, went to hit, hands got up a little bit high,” he said. He was trying to knock him off the puck and that led to the penalty.”
When asked, Knoblauch did not address whether Draisaitl’s hit could lead to supplemental discipline. Maurice, meanwhile, offered another brief response.
“The league looks at everything,” he said. “They look at every hit.”
