Draisaitl was of the opinion that he should not have received a suspension or a fine after the hit against Barkov

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The NHL’s Department of Player Safety did not believe Leon Drasisaitl deserved a suspension or fine for his high hit on Aleksander Barkov in Game 2, and Draisaitl himself did not agree.

“Yeah, I mean, I watched it (on video),” the Edmonton Oilers center said before the team’s optional practice Thursday morning.

“First of all, I think we all know that I am not a player that plays with the intention of hurting anyone in any way. I have no history in that regard. I am not a player that enjoys that part of the game, hurting other players or anything like that.”

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Draisaitl hit the Florida Panthers captain in the face with his forearm along the boards and received a two-minute penalty, which the Panthers converted to make it 3-1 when Evan Rodrigues scored against Stuart Skinner.

“I caught him in an unfortunate spot. So, yeah, I’ll leave it at that. (I) can’t stress enough that I’m not someone who plays hockey and wants to hurt anyone,” he said.

Barkov did not play the last half of the third period on Monday, but he skated in Florida on Wednesday morning before the team managed to get here on their charter boat, very late because of a storm in Fort Lauderdale. They didn’t get here until about 8 p.m., just 22 hours before game time, and because of their long travel day, had a full morning practice with all hands on board for the 6:20 p.m. kickoff.

Everyone assumes that the loud crowd at Rogers Place will be a big advantage for the Oilers after they are down 2-0, but Draisaitl is keen to point out that the players have to do their part, too.

“It’s going to be special, but we have to give them a reason to be special, right? We have to come out and get our game in order and get into the game early and just be better than we were in the last (game). But we’re excited to be back home in front of our fans,” Draisaitl said.

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This is only the second time since January that the Panthers have played outside of their Eastern time zone. They had a game in Dallas on March 12 and before that a game in Nashville on Jan. 22, both central time zones.

So maybe an advantage for the Oilers in terms of a player’s internal clock?

“I’m probably the wrong person to talk to,” said Draisaitl, who was born in Germany and is used to flying back and forth between Europe.

“I’m sure it plays a role in some ways, but once the game starts, the adrenaline kicks in and you just play the game. So I don’t know how much the time change really plays a role at this point. Maybe a little bit of sleep patterns. I’m not sure if it’s a positive or a negative for either team.”

Although it looks like Evander Kane won’t play after struggling through the 20 playoff games due to a hernia, Draisaitl, who played the 2022 playoffs with a severe ankle sprain, says everyone gets tired and hurt during the playoffs and that gets even more pronounced when you reach the Stanley Cup Final.

“It’s hard to recover because you’re playing every other night, isn’t it? There’s not much time to rest. A lot of injuries, a lot of things happen,” he said.

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“The only thing that helps is rest, and you just don’t get that. I have a lot of respect for everyone in the playoffs, everyone in the league, for what everyone goes through. I’ve unfortunately been through it myself, and it’s really tough. Things you do for the love of the game,” he said with a smile on his face.

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