Sorry, Nerds, But This Dirtball Hit From Aaron Ekblad Was Just Good Ol' Playoff Hockey
Let's just make one thing abundantly clear real quick--this is a scummmmmy hit from Ekblad. No two ways about it. These guys have all been playing hockey at the highest level for quite some time now. You don't just accidentally throw a forearm shiver towards someone's chin when you're going in for a hit. Aaron Ekblad saw who he had lined up, and decided to throw a little extra on that hit.
And that's just playoff hockey, baby. Because I can tell you right now that Ekblad doesn't launch his forearm into Hagel's jaw if this hit didn't happen earlier in the series.
Sure, Hagel received a 1-game suspension for the hit. But you don't take out a team's captain like that and then not have the rest of the team try to take your head off the rest of the series. That's what makes playoff hockey so sick. These are 7-game series where the bad blood is already boiling over in game 1. By the time games 4 and 5 come around, these dudes all want to kill each other. There's no time for cooler heads to prevail. It's not like Hagel made this scummy hit on Barkov, but the Panthers and Lightning don't play each other again for a few weeks. That was game 2, Hagel was suspended for game 3, and now here we are a few days later with Hagel back in the lineup for game 4. If you didn't think someone on the Panthers was going to try to end Hagel's series, then you don't know playoff hockey.
Now the league might want to go ahead and suspend Ekblad for a game if they want to keep everything fair and even. Because, again, it was a dirt bag hit. Hagel's hit on Barkov earned him a game suspension, so you can go ahead and suspend Ekblad for game 5. But that's playoff hockey. Especially in the Battle of Florida where they should really just let these teams play prison rules.
By the way, I don't know if anybody has ever been at the center of a more chaotic game than Aaron Ekblad last night. You have the hit on Hagel that'll most likely result in a 1-game suspension, but wasn't even called a penalty on the ice. That hit ends up sparking the Lightning's bench and they score 2 goals in 11-seconds almost immediately after the hit. Then with Tampa up 2-1, it looked like Ekblad tied the game early in the 3rd period but this goal was called back after an offside review.
But then the Hockey Gods said "puck don't lie", and Ekblad ended up scoring for real this time just a couple minutes later to actually tie the game at 2-2.
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11-seconds later, Seth Jones gives Florida the lead.
I'm going to need a researcher to tell me if there's ever been another Stanley Cup Playoff game that had both teams score 2-goals in the span of 11-seconds before.
Now the Lightning have their backs against the wall fighting for their lives down 3-1 in the series. Somehow game 5, and possibly beyond, are going to be even more of a gongshow than last night.
That's the key right there--hate. Playoff hockey is all about pure hatred. Whoever hates the hardest comes out on top.