Brandon Hagel was suspended for one game by the NHL Department of Player Safety on Friday and will not play for the Tampa Bay Lightning in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference First Round against the Florida Panthers at Amerant Bank Arena in Sunrise, Florida, on Saturday (1 p.m. ET; FDSNSUN, SCRIPPS, MAX, truTV, TBS, SN, TVAS).
The Lightning forward was assessed a major penalty for interference against Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov at 9:51 of the third period in the Lightning's 2-0 loss in Game 2 at Amalie Arena in Tampa. Tampa Bay was trailing 1-0 at the time of the penalty.
"Obviously, 'Hags' is a big part of this team and everything we do, but throughout the season we've always had that next-man-up mentality," Lightning forward Mitchell Chaffee said. "When someone goes down, gets hurt or whatever happens, the rest of us have to step up and get the job done."
Hagel set NHL career highs in goals (35), assists (55) and points (90) in 82 games this season. He did not have a point in the first two games of the series against the Panthers.
"Let's be honest, nobody's on the score sheet," Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. "We've scored two goals in two games, that's not the recipe for success. It was unfortunate in Game 1 (a 6-2 loss on Tuesday). ... That was just a weird game, but we defended well last night and there weren't a ton of opportunities either way to score. They just happened to slip one by us and we couldn't bury our chances. We keep playing those types of games, they'll eventually go in."
Barkov, the Panthers captain, left Game 2 following the hit by Hagel. He has three assists and is 22-for-33 on face-offs (66.7 percent) in the series.
"He hasn’t been ruled out yet (for Game 3) and he hasn't been cleared," Florida coach Paul Maurice said on Friday.
Barkov, who was second on the Panthers with 71 points (20 goals, 51 assists) in 67 games, missed three games from April 2-6 because of an upper-body injury that Maurice described as "not that serious." Barkov returned to play in Florida's next two games before sitting out two of its final three for rest.
“He’s irreplaceable. He’s an irreplaceable player," Panthers defenseman Seth Jones said after the win in Game 2. "Face-offs, power play, penalty kill, 5-on-5, playing against their top lines with matchups every night. One of the best centermen in the League. Obviously, he’s super important to our team.”
