-
Kristen Shilton
SUNRISE, Fla. — Florida Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov is predicted to be fantastic after taking a tough hit from Toronto Maple Leafs ahead Max Domi within the dying seconds of Florida’s 2-0 victory over Toronto in Sport 4 of their second-round Jap Convention playoff sequence on Sunday night time.
Domi levelled Barkov to the ice with a strike from behind that despatched the ahead headfirst into boards. Domi was assessed a penalty for boarding whereas the play induced a number of smaller scrums to interrupt out as depth ratchetted up between the Atlantic Division rivals, who at the moment are tied on this best-of-seven sequence at 2-2.
Florida coach Paul Maurice, after confirming Barkov was regarded as “all proper” following the incident, anticipated it might draw futher consideration from NHL higher-ups in figuring out any supplemental self-discipline for Domi.
“I believe that the league seems to be at these issues very carefully, particularly at that time within the sport,” Maurice mentioned. “That is their job.”
Whereas officers tried to get gamers off the ice after the ultimate buzzer, Panthers ahead Matthew Tkachuk was chripring Maple Leafs ahead William Nylander from his personal bench, showing to inform Nylander he’d be “coming to get him.”
The potential menace did not rattle Nylander.
“He’ll in all probability do no matter he can do to get a participant off their sport,” Nylander mentioned of the Tkachuk dialog. “Subsequent sport goes to be a enjoyable one.”
Sport 5 is about for Wednesday again in Toronto. Florida has put the Maple Leafs on their heels now after Toronto opened the sequence with back-to-back wins at dwelling, solely to see that benefit evaporate with a pair of losses on the street. The Domi hit is the movie theater controversy to leak into the sequence after Toronto netminder Anthony Stolarz was taken out in Sport 1 following an elbow to the top from Panthers’ ahead Sam Bennett.
Bennett did not obtain a penalty or any disciplinary motion for his contact with the goalie. Stolarz has been sidelined since with an undisclosed damage and based on Maple Leafs coach Craig Berube he has but to renew skating.
Florida may need sidestepped a significant concern with Barkov, however Maruice was much less certain about ahead Evan Rodrigues‘ standing after he left the sport following successful from former teammate Oliver Ekman-Larsson early within the third interval Maurice mentioned Rodrigues was nonetheless ready on the time to bear additional analysis.