Paul Maurice, the head coach of the Florida Panthers, was obviously not pleased with Leon Draisaitl's hit that eliminated his captain during Monday's Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Final.
With 9:28 left in the game, Aleksander Barkov was hit by Leon Draisaitl near the boards in the Panthers' end. He went straight down to the ice and was assisted by training staff to the locker room. He never came back.
Asked how he felt about the hit after a 4-1 win, Maurice was short and to the point.
"This isn't the Oprah Winfrey Show. My feelings don't matter," he said.
Maurice also said he had no update on Barkov.
Asked if he expected the league to take another look at the hit and consider
supplemental discipline for Draisaitl, Maurice said: "The league looks at everything."
Draisaitl was given a minor roughing penalty as it appeared that he caught Barkov up high with an elbow.
Barkov left the game and never came back. Before leaving the game with 17:47 of ice time, he had two shots and one block.
On the subsequent power play, Evan Rodrigues scored the game's second goal to give Florida a 3-1 lead, although the Panthers did manage to score.
Daniel Nugent-Bowman of The Athletic reports that Draisaitl felt the hit was fine.
“I don’t think that’s frustration. It was just a hit. I don’t think there’s anything dirty about it. Maybe I got him a little high. Certainly not with intent to injure, though, or anything like that," he said.
This season, Barkov, 28, scored 80 points for Florida in 73 games during the regular season. In 19 post-season appearances, he has added six goals and 19 points.
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