Lightning's Hagel given major for hit that injured Barkov

Tampa Bay Lightning forward Brandon Hagel was handed a five-minute major for interference after throwing a hard hit on Florida Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov during Thursday's Game 2.

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.