Center was injured on high hit by Draisaitl in 3rd period of Game 2 win against Oilers

© Dave Sandford/NHLI via Getty Images

 Aleksander Barkov is feeling better, and it’s possible he could play for the Florida Panthers in Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Final against the Edmonton Oilers at Rogers Place in Edmonton on Thursday (8 p.m. ET; ABC, ESPN+, CBC, TVAS, SN).

The Panthers’ top center and captain didn’t play the final 9:28 of their 4-1 win in Game 2 at Amerant Bank Arena on Monday after taking a high hit from forward Leon Draisaitl, who was assessed a minor penalty for roughing.

Barkov was down for a minute or so after the hit before being helped off the ice and to the dressing room.

“He came in today, he wasn’t worse, so that’s a really good thing, and the real assessment will be tomorrow,” Florida coach Paul Maurice said Tuesday. “But if he continues to progress, we should be in good shape.”

Maurice wasn’t ready to say that Barkov will travel with the team to Edmonton on Wednesday but sounded optimistic about his availability going forward in the best-of-7 series, which the Panthers lead 2-0 after winning the first two games at home.

“I don’t know if I can do all the hypotheticals for you,” Maurice said. “He left. We had some things that needed to get looked at today that got looked at, so there’s nothing sinister there. So, he kind of passed that. He felt better today, feels good.

“But you’ve got to give it then another 24 hours to make sure that he’s still feeling strong and if that continues to progress, then we think he’ll be a player for us.”

Maurice’s mood was positive as well after he said he was, “grumpy” after the game Monday. However, he still didn’t want to discuss Draisaitl’s hit on Barkov.

“It’s done,” Maurice said. “The refs called a penalty on the ice. The League looks at just about every single hit. They’ll make their decision and then we aren’t dealing with that anymore today. Part of that is just the mental discipline to leave the game where it is regardless of the result.”

Draisaitl said the play was not out of frustration and that it was “just a hit.”

“I don’t think there was anything dirty about it,” Draisaitl said after Game 2. “I don’t know, maybe I got him a little high, but certainly not any intent to injure or anything like that.”

Aleksander Barkov leaves Game 2 with an injury

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.

The Panthers had been relatively healthy before Game 2. In addition to Barkov leaving in the third period, forward Eetu Luostarinen left after taking a kneeing hit from Warren Foegele at 9:21 of the first period and defenseman Aaron Ekblad went to the locker room after appearing to have his ankle twisted when he got tangled with McDavid behind the net late in the first.

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.”