Lightning's Hagel faces hearing for interference on Barkov
Tampa Bay Lightning forward Brandon Hagel will have a hearing Friday for interference on Florida Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov during Thursday's Game 2, the NHL's Department of Player Safety announced.
Hagel was assessed a five-minute major on the play. The hearing will take place Friday.
The incident occurred around the midway mark of the third period with the Bolts down 1-0. The call on Hagel was upheld after a review, and Barkov went down the tunnel afterward.
"Refs made the call," Lightning head coach Jon Cooper said of the penalty, per The Associated Press. "I was a little surprised it was a (major) ... five minutes in a 1-0 game with eight minutes to play, nine minutes to play, that's a tough situation to be in."
Barkov logged an assist on defenseman Nate Schmidt's first-period icebreaker and recorded one block and one hit in 15:41 minutes of ice time before departing.
Florida went on to win the game 2-0 thanks to an empty-netter from Sam Bennett, though Barkov never returned.
Panthers head coach Paul Maurice had no postgame update on Barkov's status, per team reporter Katie Engleson.
The Finnish center chipped in with two assists during Florida's 6-2 Game 1 victory Tuesday.
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