Barkov, who won the Selke Trophy as the best defensive forward in the NHL for the second time this season, has been a key part of shutting down Oilers superstar forwards Connor McDavid and Draisaitl through two games. McDavid had one assist and three shots on goal in Game 2, and Draisaitl was held without a point on two shots. Before the Oilers lost 3-0 in Game 1 on Saturday, McDavid (31 points; five goals, 26 assists) and Draisaitl (28 points; 10 goals, 18 assists) had combined for 59 points through 18 playoff games.
In fact, the NHL’s top three scorers in the postseason — McDavid, Draisaitl and Oilers defenseman Evan Bouchard (28 points; six goals, 22 assists) — have combined for just two assists in the Final. Bouchard also had an assist Monday.
Barkov had two shots on goal in 17:47 of ice time in Game 2 after having two assists in 21:06 of ice time in Game 1. The 28-year-old is tied with Matthew Tkachuk for the Panthers lead with 19 points (six goals, 13 assists) and is second among their forwards in average ice time (21:31), behind Sam Reinhart (21:51) in 19 playoff games.
“He’s our captain,” Panthers forward Anton Lundell said after Game 2. “We never want to miss him, but we hope it’s going to be OK. We hope he’s going to be back. We love him and hope he’s coming back even stronger.”
The Panthers have some experience playing without Barkov from when he missed eight games over multiple stints during the regular season because of a lower-body injury and one game because of an illness. Florida also played five games without second-line center Sam Bennett when he was out with an upper-body injury earlier in the playoffs.
In each case, Lundell moved up from the third line to center one of the top two lines.
“So, we’ve done it enough that everybody if you walked in there and say, ‘If ‘Barky’ doesn’t play, what are the lines?’ the guys would all know probably what the lines are,” Maurice said.
Each returned by the end of the period, and when asked Tuesday if they are OK, Maurice said, “We’re good.”
Florida has been far healthier in these playoffs than when it reached the Cup Final last season and lost to the Vegas Golden Knights in five games. The most notable injuries were to Tkachuk, (fractured sternum), Ekblad (foot, shoulder, oblique), Luostarinen (fractured leg) and defenseman Brandon Montour (shoulder).
“We were beat to death,” Maurice said. “So, Ekblad had a broken foot, had popped his shoulder out twice, and had strained or torn an oblique. And I think he did three of those in the Boston series (in the first round). How much fun was that six weeks for him? Bennett broke his foot and didn’t tell anyone. If you don’t tell the trainer, he doesn’t know that shot block hurt and then at the end of the season, he said, ‘Yeah, you probably should’ve X-rayed my foot.’
“We had a whole bunch of those. So, we’re lucky in that. And that’s the fear of all of this for the Oilers and for us. It changes on a hit.”
NHL.com Editor-in-Chief Bill Price contributed to this report
