Should Leon Draisaitl be suspended for elbowing Aleksander Barkov?

In Game 2 of the 2024 Stanley Cup Final, Edmonton Oilers forward Leon Draisaitl's elbow hit the jaw of Florida Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov which forced the latter out of the game.

As Barkov was skating for the puck, Draisaitl was a step behind him and once he turned, Draisaitl appeared to jump and hit Barkov's face. Although Draisaitl was given a two-minute penalty, some fans thought he deserved more.

To make matters worse, Barkov did not play the final 9:28 of Game 2. Luckily, the Florida Panthers were leading at that time, so there wasn't a need for him to play anyway.

Before the injury, Barkov played 17:47 and had two shots on goal and two hits. Draisaitl, meanwhile, skated in 23:11 but didn't record a point as he has been held pointless through two games in the Stanley Cup Final.

Despite Barkov leaving the game with an injury, it is unlikely that Draisaitl will be suspended for the hit. It is the finals after all, and the refs haven't been calling as many penalties.

Draisaitl was also confident that the hit wasn't dirty, as he said that he didn't mean to injure Barkov.

“I don’t think there was anything dirty about it,” Draisaitl said, via NHL.com. “I don’t know, maybe I got him a little high, but certainly not any intent to injure or anything like that.”

Florida ended up winning Game 2 4-1 to take a 2-0 series lead with the series heading back to Edmonton.

Florida Panthers react to Leon Draisaitl's hit on Aleksander Barkov

Following Game 2, members of the Florida Panthers reacted to Leon Draisaitl's hit on their captain Aleksander Barkov.

Panthers forwards Evan Rodrigues and Anton Lundell both said that losing their captain was tough.

“You never want to see your captain go down, but I thought everyone did a great job, focused in and got the job done,” said Evan Rodrigues, via Hockey News.

"He's our captain, we never want to miss him, but we hope he’s going to be okay,” said Lundell. “We love him and hope he comes back even stronger.”

Although the players were rooting for Barkov to be available for Game 3, Panthers head coach Paul Maurice expects that the league would look at the hit.

“The league looks at everything, they look at every hit,” Maurice said.

After a lackluster response, reporters once again asked him about the incident, but he didn't comment much on it.

“This isn’t ‘The Oprah Winfrey Show.’ My feelings don’t matter," Maurice added.

Barkov's status for Game 3 is uncertain at this time. Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Finals is set for Thursday, June 13 at 8 p.m. ET in Edmonton.