Toronto Maple Leafs’ Max Domi escapes suspension for late hit on Florida Panthers captain | Globalnews.ca
Toronto Maple Leafs fans can breathe a sigh of relief as forward Max Domi has escaped a suspension for his hit on Panthers captain Alexander Barkov during the closing seconds of Florida’s 2-0 win on Sunday night.
On Monday morning, the NHL announced it would fine the Maple Leafs forward US$5,000, the maximum allowable under the collective bargaining agreement between the league and the NHL Players’ Association, rather than issue a suspension.
With just seconds to remain, Domi took a run at Barkov, nailing him into the boards from behind and causing a melee to ensue between several players in the area.
Domi would be issued a five-minute boarding major, while Toronto forward Bobby McMann, Florida defenceman Aaron Ekblad and Panthers forward Brad Marchand were each handed 10-minute misconducts.
Panthers winger Matthew Tkachuk was caught on camera at the final buzzer appearing to tell Leafs forward William Nylander, “I’m going to get you.”
Get breaking National news
For news impacting Canada and around the world, sign up for breaking news alerts delivered directly to you when they happen.
“That’s what he does,” Nylander said of Tkachuk. “He’ll probably do whatever he can to get a player off their game. Next game will be a fun one.”
Leafs coach Craig Berube told reporters that he felt like an earlier hit by Panthers’ Dmitry Kulikov on Mitch Marner “was 10 times worse” than the Domi incident.
Kulikov appeared to have thrown an elbow at Marner, but escaped penalty on the play.
Following the contest, Panthers bench boss Paul Maurice told reporters that Barkov was not injured on the play.
Toronto fans would have been enraged with the NHL’s head office had Domi been suspended as Florida forward Sam Bennett was given a free pass for an elbow on Leaf goaltender Anthony Stolarz at the midway point of the opening game of the series.
That hit left the Maple Leafs without their starting goaltender for the last three games of the series. In Stolarz’ stead, Joseph Woll has filled in and held the Leafs in Sunday night’s contest which saw them outshot by a total of 37-23.
“Played an excellent game,” Toronto head coach Craig Berube said of Woll.
The two teams will meet again on Wednesday night in Toronto for Game 5 of the best-of-seven series which is currently tied at two wins apiece.
“Both teams took care of home ice, so here we are. We’ve just got to continue to push, clean up some things, get better in different areas,” Maple Leafs captain Auston Matthews said after Game 4.
“Going back on home ice, be excited about that.”
*With files from The Canadian Press
© 2025 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
