Who would have thought the Tampa Bay Lightning would finally snag a win against the Florida Panthers in the Stanley Cup Playoffs? So, at the Amerant Bank Arena, where the Panthers play, the Lightning totally crushed it with a big 5-1 win. The icing on the cake? In that same game, they were missing one of their top forwards, Brandon Hagel. He got a one-game suspension from the NHL’s Department of Player Safety because of an interference incident with the Panthers’ captain, Aleksander Barkov.
Tampa Bay might have faced some challenges, but they still managed to keep the hopes alive as they head into Game 4. Did you know there was a similar incident in Game 3 like what happened in Game 2? So, the incident happened in the last few minutes of the game, and the Lightning were ahead 5-1. Matthew Tkachuk laid a big hit on Jake Guentzel, and it came well after the puck had been played.
Because of that, he got a five-minute major penalty for interference and a game misconduct. In a cheeky tone, Lightning coach Jon Cooper brought it up during the post-game press conference, saying, “The only players we hit are the ones with pucks.” Is this a reference to Brandon Hagel? For sure! In what way?
Hagel got a one-game suspension for hitting the Panthers’ captain, who didn’t have the puck at the time. Or maybe he didn’t? So, regardless of what the NHL rules say, Barkov didn’t have the puck when Hagel made the hit, which is why Hagel got a one-game suspension.
Cooper’s statement really highlighted that even though Barkov didn’t have the puck at that moment, he was definitely after it, especially after missing a pass. Since Hagel was already committed, he ended up taking the penalty. So, what was the Panthers coach’s reaction to this incident on the ice?
Paul Maurice defended Matthew Tkachuk’s action
I’m sure anyone who caught Game 3 between the Tampa Bay Lightning and the Florida Panthers noticed Matthew Tkachuk’s hit on Jake Guentzel. So, what about Paul Maurice? “I didn’t feel that at all. I thought it was really really quiet. I didn’t feel the intensity of the hitting was much there was a different kind of puck control there wasn’t as much time on the walls,” Maurice commented on Chucky’s hit on the Tampa Bay player.
“There wasn’t as much for checking because there were more controlled entries kind of going both ways I like In terms of heavy hits there’s not one that really pops out at me. So there was some chirping but even with that was it was minor.” For the Panthers coach, this was just another regular NHL game.
Also, he noticed some hits here and there, but it didn’t really cross his mind much. So, with Tampa Bay taking this game, Florida really needs to step it up and regain their footing in the next one.
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