Oilers’ Sam Carrick fined for slash, Leon Draisaitl will not face discipline for hit on Barkov

Edmonton Oilers forward Sam Carrick was handed a roughly $2,000 fine for a slash on Florida Panthers defenceman Dmitri Kulikov in Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Final on Monday. Meanwhile, Leon Draisaitl will reportedly avoid supplemental discipline for his high hit on Alexander Barkov.

Carrick’s fine was due to a slash he dished out to Kulikov in retaliation for a hit received moments prior. The slash went in between Kulikov’s legs, which is likely why the infraction was raised to require the maximum payment under the CBA of $2,213.54. This could have been a lot more painful had it been a more direct connection so the fine is a fair punishment for the play in question.

As for Draisaitl, the lack of a suspension is no surprise given the report made by Renaud Lavoie this morning that this was the likely outcome. Draisaitl should be lucky that he won’t be missing any games because the hit looks quite dangerous when watching it back.

As bad as the hit looks (which included Draisiatl’s feet coming off the ice), DailyFaceoff’s Frank Seravalli felt that the hit was not worthy of a suspension as he felt it was a routine collision with an unfortunate outcome.

“I think my biggest concern about the hit was Draisaitl leaving his feet,” he said on a recent appearance of Morning Cuppa Hockey. “As you guys know, having been high-level hockey players, it’s really natural for your feet to leave the ice surface after making contact, which is, as Colby pointed out, I believe exactly what happens here.”

“I’ll offer you two things: One, I don’t love the arm contact and placement and where that connects, but that is as routine as it gets when it comes to a hit in the NHL, so that’s not suspendable. That brings me to my second point, which is this: if you have to squint really hard and try and find a reason to suspend a player, I can tell you almost for certainty that that player is not getting suspended when it comes to a Stanley Cup Final.”

Barkov left Game 2 after this collision. While Panthers coach Paul Maurice provided an update earlier today that the Finnish centreman was making good progress, his status for Game 3 on Thursday remains up in the air at this time.

The physicality in this series so far has been a major focal point and the Oilers have certainly gotten their hands full in trying to adjust to it. If they wish to avoid going down 3-0 in the Finals, they will have to weather that storm while also trying to solve Sergei Bobrovsky who has been lights out through the first 120 minutes of this series.

Game 3 is taking place in Edmonton on Thursday night, where you can catch the action on Sportsnet for a 6 p.m. MDT start.