FORT LAUDERDALE – The Florida Panthers are not sure if their captain will play on Thursday.
Aleksander Barkov went down in the third period after taking a shot to the face from Edmonton’s Leon Draisaitl.
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Barkov left the game and did not return.
Head coach Paul Maurice was asked how he felt about it after the game and said “this isn’t the Oprah Winfrey show” and his feelings on the seemingly dirty hit did not matter.
As for Barkov’s status, Maurice said Tuesday “He came in today, he wasn’t worse. So that’s a really good thing. The real assessment will be tomorrow and if he continues to progress we will be in really good shape.”
Maurice said the team has played without Barkov in the past and could figure out how to replace him if they needed to.
Maurice added, “He left. He had some things that needed to get looked at today, they got looked at. So there’s nothing sinister there. He felt better today, feels good. But you gotta give it another 24 hours so that he’s still feeling strong.”