Despite leaving his feet on the hit and making direct contact with Barkov’s head, Draisaitl was only give a two-minute minor penalty for roughing. Letting their pay serve as payback for the hit, Evan Rodrigues scored on the ensuing power play to extend Florida’s lead to 3-1.
After the game, the Panthers avoided commenting on the headshot.
Still waiting to see if any supplemental discipline will come from the NHL’s Department of Player Safety prior to Game 3, Maurice said the Panthers are ready to move on from the hit.
“The refs called a penalty on the ice,” Maurice said. “The league looks just about every single hit. They’ll make their decision and then we’re not dealing with that any more today.”
As for next steps in regard to Barkov, who’s logged 19 points (six goals, 13 assists) and a team-high 26 takeaways while averaging 21:31 of ice time over 19 games this postseason, the Panthers are hoping for more positive news on Wednesday before flying to Edmonton.
“We had some things that needed to be looked at today that got looked at, so there’s nothing sinister there [with the injury],” Maurice said. “He kind of passed that. He felt better today. Feels good. But you’ve got to give it another 24 hours to make sure that he feels strong.”
In other injury news, defenseman Aaron Ekblad and forward Eetu Luostarinen are both considered fine after briefly exiting in the first period of Game 2 following a pair of scary-looking collisions.
“We’re good,” Maurice said of the duo’s status moving forward.
With a chance to take a commanding 3-0 lead in the Stanley Cup Final, the Panthers will visit the Oilers for Game 3 at Rogers Place on Thursday at 8 p.m. ET.
For information on the official watch party in South Florida, click HERE.
