Bolts' Hagel to have hearing for hit on Barkov
Published
Tampa Bay Lightning forward Brandon Hagel will have a hearing Friday for interference against Florida Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov, NHL Player Safety announced.
Barkov was forced to leave the game as a result of the hit, missing the final 10:09 of the Panthers' win in Game 2 of their first-round Stanley Cup Playoff series Thursday night. Barkov remained down on one knee briefly after the play before skating off and making his way to the dressing room.
The incident occurred in the third period when Hagel drilled Barkov up high, sending him down hard and into the boards. Barkov did not have the puck and Hagel left his feet while delivering the hit. Hagel was assessed a five-minute major and a game misconduct on the play.
Head coach Paul Maurice did not have an update on Barkov's status after the game.
"It's tough to see," teammate Sam Bennett said.
"Any time your best player goes down like that you're obviously- it's tough to lose him. He does everything for this squad, so we care about him a lot and he's a tough guy so I'm sure he'll be fine, but yeah, you hate to see that."
Lightning head coach Jon Cooper wasn't in full agreement with the five-and-a-game call on Hagel.
“Refs made the call,” said Cooper. “I was a little surprised it was a (major) ... five minutes in a 1-0 game with eight minutes to play, nine minutes to play, that's a tough situation to be in.”
Hagel played 22:41 Thursday night, registering two shots on goal and four hits. Barkov had one assist, one blocked shot and one hit in 15:41 before departing.
The Lightning and Panthers will continue their first-round series Saturday afternoon with Florida holding a 2-0 series lead.