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FORT LAUDERDALE — The Florida Panthers will be without one of their top defensemen for Game 5 against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Wednesday.
Aaron Ekblad was suspended for two games for his hit on Lightning forward Brandon Hagel in the Panthers’ Game 4 win, the NHL Department of Player Safety announced Tuesday. Ekblad will miss Game 5 and either Game 6 against the Lightning (if Tampa Bay wins Wednesday) or the first game of the second round (if Florida wins the next game).
Additionally, Panthers defenseman Niko Mikkola was fined $5,000 for his boarding penalty Zemgus Girgensons in Game 4. Mikkola received a game misconduct for the penalty and was ejected from the game.
Hagel missed Game 3 of the series for a suspension stemming from his Game 2 hit on Florida captain Aleksander Barkov. This series has had its share of big hits; Panthers star Matthew Tkachuk had a hit on Jake Guentzel in Game 3 that led to a five-minute major penalty but no suspension.
Hagel did not return to the game after the Ekblad hit, and Lightning coach Jon Cooper said Hagel will miss Game 5.
Lightning coach Jon Cooper was clearly frustrated with the hit and the lack of a called penalty on the ice, sparring with a reporter in his postgame press conference.
“It’s getting tiresome answering questions about a hit every single game,” Cooper said. “So I’ll ask you, you asked me the question. Why are you asking me the question? Do you have anything to say about it?”
Panthers coach Paul Maurice did not say much on Ekblad’s hit after the game Monday.
“I want to be consistent with what I’ve said on the Hagel (hit),” Maurice said after the game. “I saw it. I’ve seen it before. Saw it last year. I’ll coach, the players will play, the refs will make the calls, and the league will do what they will. … I don’t want to use this platform to start making my case on this. Everybody’s got a job to do.”
Ekblad was a key player in Florida’s win in Game 4, scoring the game-tying goal late in the third period. But the Panthers have had plenty of experience playing without the veteran defender lately. Ekblad was suspended from March through Game 2 of this series for violating the NHL/NHLPA Performance Enhancing Substances Program.
When Ekblad was out, the Panthers teamed Seth Jones — who scored the game-winning goal on Monday — with Gustav Forsling as the top defensive pairing.
“You’ve all watched it happen here over the last three years: We will have really important players out for big blocks of time,” Maurice said Tuesday. “If it’s the first time that happens, there’s even questions from the coaching staff about what’s the right adjustment to make in your lineup, and how will that play out? So there’s a lot of unknown.
“Because we’ve been through it so much when Aaron’s out, we know what the (defensive) pairs are, the minutes if he — let’s assume — if he’s out of the lineup. And if he’s not, then we’ll go with what we’ve got.”
Aaron Ekblad will have a hearing with the NHL Department of Player Safety for this hit on Brandon Hagel, according to @FriedgeHNIC pic.twitter.com/Y1wYRBEfnw
— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) April 29, 2025
Originally Published: April 29, 2025 at 7:02 PM EDT
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