Leon Draisaitl of the Edmonton Oilers is weakening at the worst possible time

Article content

Barkov’s status for Game 3 on Thursday night is still unknown – but the schedule with an extra day off between games benefits the Panthers.

It’s unlikely that Draisaitl will receive any punishment from NHL safety, mainly because he’s Draisaitl, but really, he and the Edmonton Oilers have already been punished enough for his momentary loss of control.

Draisaitl left the field and delivered either an elbow or a forearm strike to Barkov’s jaw, causing the Florida Panthers captain to be taken out of the game with half a period left on Monday night.

Florida was leading by one goal when Draisaitl was penalized for excessive force. That’s how close the game was.

But with Draisaitl in the box, Evan Rodrigues scored his third goal in two games to make it 3-1 for Florida and give the Panthers a virtual 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven series.

The good news about Barkov, Maurice said, is that “he came in today and he didn’t get any worse. That’s really a good thing.”

“The real assessment should come tomorrow. And if he continues to make progress, he should be a player for us.”

But at this point, it’s all just speculation.

Article content

Article content

“We had a few things that needed to be looked at today and that was done,” said Maurice, who would not say what those things were. Maybe he was talking about a concussion. Maybe he was talking about a broken jaw. Maybe he was talking about some kind of neck injury.

“He feels strong today,” the coach said. “But you have to give him 24 hours to make sure he still feels strong. If that continues to develop, he should be a player for us.”

The Panthers were used to playing with fewer players in previous playoff games, and this playoff season they played five games without the impetuous Sam Bennett. Last year, on the road to the Stanley Cup Final, several players, including Bennett and team leader Tkachuk, had to play despite horrific injuries.

Article content

This year, the Panthers are in full swing, considering they’re playing their 20th postseason game on Thursday night.

And the Oilers, struggling with injuries to Evander Kane and Darnell Nurse and a lack of production throughout their lineup, are now fighting to stay in the playoffs. The trip home should help a little.

“They’re an excellent, excellent home team,” said Maurice, who isn’t sure if he’ll have his No. 1 center, Barkov, in the lineup.

Draisaitl, for example, has to get better himself. He said that after Game 2. Players always say things like that when they lose playoff games.

But Draisaitl also knows he has to be smarter. He can’t be so undisciplined when it comes to a game that played a major role in the loss in Game 2. Draisaitl is supposed to win games for the Oilers, not lose them.

But the playoff giant is actually struggling at the moment, which is not usually the case. In his last seven playoff games for the Oilers, he has scored just one goal and just two assists. He didn’t score any points in the final. In the previous seven games, he had 13 points, four of which were goals.

World-class center Connor McDavid had just one assist and no goals in two games against Florida, spending most of his time on the ice against Barkov and the defensive duo of Gustav Forsling and Aaron Ekblad.

He also needs to improve and allow himself to be less distracted.

But by the time the game starts, there will surely be more talk about Draisaitl, more distractions from the shot, the league’s lack of response and the fact that the Oilers have only scored one goal in their first two games.

There is a lot to discuss. But nothing for the otherwise talkative Maurice.

“I’m staying out of it,” he said, when asked again about the Draisaitl hit.

“For me it’s done.

He admitted that he appeared at the post-match press conference “grumpy” because of the incident with his captain and the unknowns surrounding the circumstances.

“I try to present myself honestly,” said the eloquent Maurice. “I don’t usually think about my words. But when I went to this press conference, I knew I would be asked about it. So I just kept my mouth shut. I kept it brief.”

And now the question is: Will the series be short?

That was certainly not the expectation we had at the beginning.

[email protected]

Article content