“We know it’s going to be a war,” Anton Lundell of the Florida Panthers stated before the Panthers began their postseason debut. His sentiments weren’t unjustified, especially considering that the Miami team would be locking horns with fierce in-state arch-rivals, the Tampa Bay Lightning, in the playoffs for the second straight year. Now, four games into the seven-game series, both Paul Maurice and Jon Cooper‘s boys are living up to the bill.
The Panthers won the fourth game of Round 1 just hours ago, extending their lead to 3-1. However, while the defeat was understandably tough, it was instead Aaron Ekblad‘s hit on the Bolts’ Brandon Hagel that got Tampa Bay head coach Jon Cooper to lose his cool. But while Bolts’ boss was evidently livid, Maurice was more about showing diplomacy.
In a YouTube upload by FloridaHockeyNow from April 28, Coach Maurice talked about his thoughts on what went down between Ekblad and Hagel on the ice at the Amerant Bank Arena. “ I don’t want to use this platform to start making my case on this. Everybody’s got a job to do,” Paul said with a straight face when asked about his thoughts on Ekblad’s hit in the post-match presser. “I’ll stay in my lane,” he went on, noting that such things happen every year, and the coaches, players, and match officials will just have to carry on with their jobs.
But while Maurice didn’t try to muddy the waters, Jon Cooper’s was a whole different story. While he was visibly agitated when the refs allowed the match to continue despite Ekblad flattening out Hagel right in front of their eyes, in the post-match presser, Coach Cooper was almost exhausted from all the excitement. “It’s getting tiresome answering questions about a hit every single game,” he stated with a calm demeanor, and instead asked the reporters their thoughts on the matter.
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The post Panthers Coach ‘Stays in Lane’ as Frustrated Jon Cooper Denies Comment on Aaron Ekblad’s Hit Injuring Brandon Hagel appeared first on EssentiallySports.