Aaron Ekblad and his Florida Panthers are just living their best playoff life right now, or are they? After Tampa snatched that last matchup and made it a 2-1 series, Florida came storming back, refusing to let the Lightning crash their party. Monday night at the Amerant Bank Arena was pure chaos—in the best way. Ekblad and Seth Jones went full savage mode, scoring just 11 seconds apart late in the third, flipping the whole vibe. Florida snagged the 4-2 dub, pushing the series to 3-1. And now? Game 5’s about to head back to Tampa on Wednesday, and it’s shaping up to be spicy. Panthers’ stars like Anton Lundell and Carter Verhaeghe got their shine too, while Sergei Bobrovsky locked it down in goal with 18 big saves. Tampa tried to answer back with goals from Mitchell Chaffee and Erik Cernak, and even Andrei Vasilevskiy did his best to weather the storm with 19 saves, but the Cats were just too locked in.
The night wasn’t all smooth skating though—emotions were flying high. Florida first struck in the second when Lundell netted his first of the series, but Tampa came swinging back, banging in two goals in just 11 seconds like it was nothing. Still, when it mattered most, Ekblad pounced on a juicy rebound to tie it, and Jones’ point shot—with a little lucky bounce—gave Florida the lead. Verhaeghe wrapped things up with an empty-netter that sealed Tampa’s fate. But the drama didn’t stop there. Brandon Hagel had to dip out mid-game after a rough hit from Ekblad, and to make the chaos even messier, Florida’s Niko Mikkola got tossed early in the third for boarding. Now the hockey streets are buzzing loud—people are already calling for Aaron Ekbald to face suspension, wondering if Hagel’s playoffs run might be cut short again.
Sportsnet dropped a video from the panel, and honestly, it was straight-up spicy. One of the hosts set the whole tone, saying, “Back in Game 2, Brandon Hagel, the one game suspension following this late hit on Alexander Barkov. The captain goes down, temporarily had to leave this game, did play in Game 3. Hagel suspended for Game 3. So you knew we’d have a target on his back and the bad blood boiled over tonight, courtesy of Aaron Ekblad.” No sugarcoating at all.
“I think it’s a bad hit.”
The panel discuss their thoughts on Aaron Ekblad’s hit on Brandon Hagel. pic.twitter.com/h4M0i8C9Wn
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) April 29, 2025
Then the other host chimed in, keeping it real: “Yeah, and you know, we said before the game that these teams are professionals and the shenanigans, it’s time to win games. He takes a run at Hagel. We know they’ve got Hagel on the mind and they want to get a piece of him.” And boy, did it show — things got ugly real quick out there. Meanwhile, fans were lighting up social media like fireworks. One fan just dropped it straight, no filter: “That’s a suspension…” And honestly? They’re not reaching. Because Ekblad’s name’s already been stirring the pot earlier this year.
Flashback to when the NHL announced that Aaron Ekblad was suspended 20 games, without pay, for violating the terms of the NHL/NHLPA Performance Enhancing Substances Program. Huge news. And under the NHL’s collective bargaining agreement, the suspension is accompanied by a mandatory referral to the NHL/NHLPA Program for Substance Abuse and Behavioral Health for evaluation and possible treatment.
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