HIGHLIGHTS
- The Tampa Bay Lightning are facing elimination on Wednesday
- To make matters worse, Brandon Hagel won’t play
- Keep reading for the full scoop
The Tampa Bay Lightning will be without one of their most important players in a potential elimination Game 5 on Wednesday against the Florida Panthers.
Hagel, who took a nasty elbow from Aaron Ekblad in Game 4, won’t play in this pivotal contest, head coach Jon Cooper bluntly said on Tuesday:
Ekblad was just suspended for the hit for two games. Here’s the play where Hagel was injured in the second period. He never returned:
Hagel missed Game 3 as well after he was suspended for a dirty hit on Aleksander Barkov. He had just 11:04 of ice time on Monday before departing.
The Canadian had a very solid regular season for the Lightning, scoring 35 goals and tallying 55 helpers. However, he’s yet to register a point in these playoffs, finishing with a -2 plus/minus in Games 1 and 2.
Despite finishing above the Panthers in the standings, Tampa Bay is on the brink of yet another early exit. While their offense came alive in Game 3 with a 5-1 victory, the defending Stanley Cup champions responded in Game 4 with a 4-2 win.
This has been a ridiculously physical series between two teams that do not like each other, and Cooper knew it would be a topic of discussion.
Via NHL.com:
“I mean players are missing games because of it, whether it’s physically or [because of suspension], so of course it’s going to be talked about,” Cooper said. “But along those lines, I think anybody that’s followed Tampa or Florida over the last 5-6 years … this is kind of how these series are. This series is probably a little different in the sense of some of the major things that have happened, but they’re usually … these are hard-fought series.”
The Lightning will be looking to extend the series on home ice on Wednesday.
