6 days Ago
Tensions continue to boil over between the Tampa Bay Lightning and the Florida Panthers in their first-round playoff series. The Panthers may be on the verge of advancing with a 3-1 series lead, but they will be without a key defenseman for a pair of games. The NHL Department of Player Safety handed Panthers defenseman Aaron Ekblad a two-game suspension for elbowing Lightning forward Brandon Hagel.
About halfway through the second period, Ekblad threw a forearm shiver to Hagel’s face, knocking him out of the game. The Lightning recently ruled out Hagel for at least Game 5 with an injury, likely stemming from the Ekblad’s elbowing. On-ice officials did not call a penalty on the play and Ekblad went on to score the game-tying goal in the Panthers' 4-2 win.
Ekblad claimed in his hearing that he did not try and drive his elbow into Hagel’s head, but this was not an instance where a blow to the torso or shoulder rides into the head and neck area. “This is a direct blow to an opponent’s head,” the league said in a video release on the incident. “With an extended elbow delivered with requisite force.
” The blatant elbow paired with Hagel suffering an injury were main reasons behind the NHL handing out a two-game suspension to Ekblad. Ekblad had recently returned from a 20-game suspension for violating the NHL’s performance enhancing drug policy, but that was not considered for this new suspension. Fellow Panthers defenseman Niko Mikkola was also fined for a boarding incident early in the third period.
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