Down 2-0 in their opening-round series to Florida, the Lightning will be without one of their top wingers for Saturday’s game as the league announced late Friday that Brandon Hagel received a one-game suspension for his hit on Aleksander Barkov on Thursday.
The incident occurred just before the midway mark of the third period with Hagel receiving a major penalty for interference on the play but not a game misconduct. Barkov left the game and did not return; head coach Paul Maurice revealed Friday that the center hasn’t been ruled out or in for tonight’s contest.
In the video explaining the decision, the Department of Player Safety noted that supplemental discipline was warranted because Barkov was never in possession of the puck and therefore was not eligible to be checked. After the puck was well past the players, Hagel delivered “a high, hard body check that makes some head contact.”
Hagel made the case that he approached the play as if Barkov would eventually play the puck as it came to him, but the ruling stated that “the onus is on Hagel to ensure that the player he is hitting is eligible to be checked” and that he intentionally delivered “an extremely forceful body check to an unsuspecting opponent with sufficient force.”
This is Hagel’s first career suspension in 375 regular-season and 36 playoff games. However, it’s not his first supplemental discipline for a playoff incident against the Panthers as he was fined for boarding Florida’s Eetu Luostarinen back in May 2022.