TAMPA — Brandon Hagel will not play for the Tampa Bay Lightning against the Florida Panthers in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference First Round on Wednesday because of an injury.
The forward took an elbow to the head from Panthers defenseman Aaron Ekblad at 11:20 of the second period of the Panthers’ 4-2 win in Game 4 at Amerant Bank Arena on Monday. Hagel left the game and did not return.
Ekblad was suspended two games by the NHL Department of Player Safety on Tuesday.
“He’s not playing tomorrow,” Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. “There it is, and you know why.”
Ekblad was not assessed a penalty for the hit and would go on to score the game-tying goal with 3:47 remaining in the game. Seth Jones scored the game-winner 11 seconds later.
The Panthers have a 3-1 lead in the best-of-7 series and can close it out with a win in Game 5 at Amalie Arena on Wednesday (7:30 p.m. TV: ESPN2, FDSNSUN, SCRIPPS).
Hagel was suspended for Game 3 of the series after he delivered a hard check to Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov in the third period of Game 2. Barkov left that game, which the Panthers won 2-0, and Hagel was given a five-minute major for interference.
Cooper said that the physical tone of the series has taken attention off of what have been strong efforts on the ice by both teams.
“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.”
Hagel does not have a point in the series. The 26-year-old is coming off career highs in goals (35), assists (55) and points (90) playing in all 82 regular-season games.
“Hitting is part of hockey you know? Obviously it gets sensationalized now with what happened yesterday,” Tampa Bay defenseman Erik Cernak said. “They don’t get a penalty for it, and it kind of [stinks] because one of the guys for our team didn’t finish the game. It is what it is, you know? You can’t really look into that. We just have to play hockey and right now, we just have to look to tomorrow’s game. I think that’s the most important thing right now.”
The Lightning withstood Hagel’s suspension in Game 3 on Saturday with a 5-1 win. If they are to avoid a first-round exit for the third consecutive season, they will need another win without him.
“There’s a catchy word called adversity,” Cooper said. “The script doesn’t always go as planned, but as I tell the players, let’s be the ones that write our own story. You take this group and the belief they have, we’ll just step forward and try to write our own story.”
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