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Everyone is speaking out against this. Two Panthers players had big hits against the Tampa Bay Lightning in game number four, and some are saying that they should be suspended. But will they? We'll discuss that in this episode of Panthers Digest, as well as unlikely heroes for the Florida Panthers. Guys are scoring that aren't on those top lines, and they're not forwards. I'll tell you who those guys are and the big impact they are having on this first round matchup against the Tampa Bay Lightning. Guys, thank you for joining me on this episode of Panthers Digest. I am Greg Andrews. Please hit that subscribe button down below so you can stay in the know about all news, injuries, any sort of pre and post game analysis that has to do with your defending Stanley Cup champion, Florida Panthers. So game four is in the books, guys, and it was an exciting one to say the least. We had two goals scored by the Tampa Bay Lightning in 11 seconds. We also had two goals scored by the Panthers in 11 seconds as well. Man, it was a crazy, crazy game to watch last night. But man, was it entertaining and fun. The good news is the Florida Panthers came out on top, four to two in what was a thriller for sure. So when we're looking at this game, one of the big storylines was the hit by Aaron Eckblad towards the end of the game where he gave a little forearm shiver and people are calling for maybe a suspension. And there was also the boarding misconduct by Mikula on Gergensons. And they're saying that maybe he will be suspended. But we'll talk about those hits in just a second. The Aaron Eckblad one, though, could be cause for concern because after watching replay after replay, you can clearly see that Eckblad, he didn't leave his skates. He did make an effort to hit a player after he touched the puck. But he did lean in with that forearm that pushed, pushed Hagel right to the ice. And he looked like he did hit his head. So we'll see if the NHL does decide to take any action against either one of those players. But when we're looking at the Mikula hit, guys, the hit didn't look malicious in terms of he was trying to injure Gergensons. It was not that. Gergensons was making a play for the puck. He fell down. He was trying to get back up. Mikula went over looking like he was trying to finish his check. And unfortunately, Gergensons didn't get up fast enough in terms of, I think what Mikula was trying to do was just finish that check, put the body on him, free up that puck and try to gain possession. And unfortunately, Gergensons' head did not come up in time. So he ended up squishing his head into the board. So we will see. Should it have been a game misconduct? I don't think so. There was no malintent to injure the player. Five-minute call. I think it should have been a boarding. Yes, absolutely. Because it did look pretty bad. But I don't think a game misconduct. He should have been kicked out of the game. That was, I think, overdone by the referees. And then there was a no call for the Ekblad shot. We'll see what the NHL will do about both of these hits. But again, I'm not going to speculate any further because as the day draws out today, I'm sure we will get some sort of feedback and news from the NHL, from the Panthers, from the Lightning regarding both of those hits last night. And it's not to say that this hasn't been a physical series, right, guys? There have been hits upon hits upon hits. More and so the favor of the Panthers. But last night kind of took a little bit of a turn. And we are going to go over some of those stat lines. But first, I want to talk about the line changes. These line changes were huge last night. Samaskevic is no longer in the lineup. Rodriguez has come in. They took Samaskevic out. They didn't see that he was doing a whole lot to help the Panthers right now in his very first playoff series ever. He is a rookie. So they put Rodriguez, who has looked like he's put a little more of a spark into the offense and defense for the Panthers. You can see he's been zipping around the ice. He's done a good job forward checking since being put in this lineup in Game 3. So great job by him. I do like what they've been doing here in terms of matching up with the Lightning. Unfortunately, it didn't go that well in Game Number 3 as we saw with the big-time loss that the Panthers took. But the good news is they rebounded with a big-time Game 4 victory. In terms of the stat lines from the game last night, pretty even except for if you look at the hits, guys. 46-28. The Panthers are really trying to be physical. Really doing a great job. I think that's part of the way that they're helping control the game. Now, the Lightning in Game Number 3, all of their stars ended up getting on the stat sheet in big ways. Assists, goals. Kucherov had three assists. Gwenzel had a goal. Those guys finally stepped up in a game when they needed them to step up. But if you keep looking further down this sheet, guys, the thing that has been throwing me off a little bit is if you're looking at the face-off win percentages, the times when the Panthers have been more dominant in their wins, they have either been winning in that percentage or been close to around 50%. In Game Number 3, they did not do well in the face-off circle. I think it was Tampa Bay around like 57% or 58% win percentage for the game. And that drew some ire for some of the fans. And some were saying, hey, man, that's big. That's a big stat in terms of controlling the puck in the offensive zone and as well as getting possession of the puck in the defensive zone. So that way, you can start doing line changes, whatever it might need to be, and stopping the Lightning from having any sort of momentum. But they were not able to do that in Game 3. But this is about Game 4, guys. If you look here, though, one of the big lines here, and I said this before, I think blocked shots are going to be the biggest storyline for the postseason for the Panthers. If they could put their bodies in between the puck and the goal, they're going to give themselves a bigger chance to win games. And we've seen it in Game 1 and Game 2 when I showed you guys the stat lines. They were blocking a lot of shots. In this game, they did not. And they did get lucky to come out with the W. But it was Tampa Bay who was doing a great job at 20 blocks to Florida's 11 last night. So the penalty minutes, obviously the game misconduct was pretty big. Both teams have been outstanding on their penalty kill. That has been one of the big storylines in this series as well. Florida has been just shutting down the fifth-best power play in the regular season. 93.3% penalty kill right now in the postseason. Spectacular. And Florida's power play is at around 23%. They are 3 of 13 in this series. As we know, in Game 1, they were a perfect 100% 3 of 3. So as we look at this stat sheet from last night, these are the unlikely heroes of the defensive guys are stepping up. Eckblad and Jones had two massive goals, 11 seconds apart. And by the way, that is an NHL record for consecutive goals scored by a defensive pair in NHL history. I think the last record was 16 or 18 seconds, somewhere around there. But that's irrelevant now because Jones and Eckblad own that record. But as we can see on the stat sheet, I love seeing defensive guys on the board here. It is such a big pick-me-up. And it just screams, like I've said in previous episodes, I love the Seth Jones trade because he has a wicked slap shot, guys. And he's not afraid to use it. He's real smart when he winds up in terms of trying to generate just get the puck to the net. That's what it's all about. Just get the puck to the net. If it's not a 90-mile-an-hour slap shot, it doesn't matter. Just throw it at the net. And that's what he loves to do, especially if he's wide open. He's been doing it. And Eckblad getting in front of that net, being in the right place, right time. Unfortunately, his first goal did not count. And it was a fantastic one. But that second one was also pretty incredible. It's great to see him finally get on the board and just his second game back since his suspension for PEDs. So this is... I'm going to go back in time now. This was actually game number one. And like I said, if you look at the shots, yeah, they had five fewer shots than the Lightning. But look at everything else. The hits, 20 more hits than the Lightning. They outperformed in the face-off circle at 57% to Lightning's 43. So they really did a great job of controlling the puck when they should have in the offensive zone. That's one of the reasons why they were a perfect 3-for-3 on the power play. And also Matthew Chuck had a lot to do with that. But look, block shots again. 18-8. I think that was one of the biggest storylines in that game. Their bodies getting between the puck and the net saved them in that game. And that's why they ran away with it so easily. This is game number two. Got a little bit closer. The Panthers struggled. That's why the game was a little bit closer. It wasn't as lopsided as a 6-2 victory. But you could see they outshot. They started bringing their shots back up, throwing the puck at the net. But the face-off win percentage went down. They were blocking a lot of shots. And that's one of the reasons why they pulled away with the victory here. And again, that penalty kill, man. They had been shutting down the league's fifth best power play in the regular season. And then this was game three. The game that they lost. Notice the immense amounts of shots compared to the Lightning. 34-22. They're out hitting them still. Again, very, very physical series. And they had a terrible face-off win percentage in that game. 57.4 to 42.6. Not very good. They were blocking shots. But the Lightning just were better. Especially with the takeaways. The Panthers got sloppy with the puck in neutral ice. And just some sloppy passing. I remember a few instances when the Panthers were trying to get the puck out of their defensive third. They were unable to do it. Turned the puck over. Gave a lot of chances for the Lightning to pretty much take over that game and take over they did. It was a tough one to watch. But man, did they pick it back up last night. So as we are moving forward here, I want to bring up a couple of quotes. And this makes things a little bit fun here. So this is actually Paul Maurice talking about how a game like last night, they haven't had a lot of. Where they've come back and had to grind it out at the very end of the game. And had these incredible comebacks. And that's a big mental edge to have going into. Especially a Game 5 that could be a serious clinching Game 5 for the Panthers. So they haven't had a lot of them. He said this is great for the team. It's going to be great to their psyche heading into this possible closeout game. And the best thing that I love about what he's saying here too is don't forget the physicality. Again, these are all kind of foreshadowing. Possibly moving into the next round. I'm not going to get that far ahead today. That's a discussion for another day moving forward. But this is a great foreshadowing about the next series. About how physical this team is. And if they can remain this way, they're going to move far into the playoffs. Very far. But can they keep it up? Can they stay healthy? So one of the funny things I wanted you guys to see here was this little kind of back and forth between Paul Maurice and John Cooper. So this was Paul Maurice. This was after Barkov got leveled by Hagel. He said, no, the only players that they hit are the ones who have the pucks. He was making that reference to that bad, nasty, dirty hit by Hagel on Barkov when he clearly didn't have the puck and did not touch it. Well, this was Cooper's response. He, in a press conference, said the exact same thing regarding some of the hits that his players have been facing. But then he had this to say when a reporter asked him about the hits from last night. Getting tired of answering these questions about a hit every single game. If anybody in here has something, stand up and let me know, all right? So let's move on. Like, it's getting tiresome. These coaches don't want to talk about this stuff anymore. Let's focus on the game. It's physical. We get it. We get it, guys. It's a physical series. People are getting hit left and right. There's gonna be some forearm shivers, things like that. But one of the things I wish a reporter would have said is the referees are not letting things slide in this game. Sorry, in this series. Excuse me. They are really trying to control this series as best they can from getting out of control in terms of scrums left and right. Because if that happens, there's not gonna be any chance for these two teams to not get more physical. Someone will get hurt. They're trying to look after player safety by calling a pretty tight game. That's why there's the five-minute misconduct on Mikula. Try to keep things at bay. I know the forearm shiver by Ekblad was missed. But look at the previous games. Barkov, that hit from Hagel on Barkov, they had to give him that five-minute major. Because again, protect the players. Keep these guys in check. Because this series could get out of control. Because these two teams, I've said it before, they hate each other, guys. They absolutely hate each other. So this could be one of those bruised and battered series. But it hasn't really gone in that direction in terms of things getting out of control yet. But I think game five will be even scrappier. I think there's gonna be heavier, harder hits. I think it's gonna be faster paced. And I love the fact that the Panthers are gonna stick with this lineup as of right now. But we'll see if they tweak a couple of lines here and there. We'll see what happens. Because right now, that third and fourth line, the Marchand line with Lustrain and Lundell, they have been playing great together. Really, really awesome last night with Marchand with the assist to Lundell for the goal. They've been doing great on that line. Especially on the defensive side of things. I know there's a couple little sloppy passes and turnovers by Marchand. But man, he picks it back up. He has been such a great motor on the ice. And you could also see the jawing that he does. Again, that psychological edge he brings to this team when he is on the ice is second to none in the NHL. And as I look over my notes here, guys, that is pretty much all I have. Except for, do you guys think the hit on Hagel from Ekblad was a little bit of payback for the Hagel hit on Barkov? I would say maybe. And the damage is done right now. There was a no call. So let's cross our fingers. There are no repercussions through the NHL player safety that there are no suspensions. Let's cross our fingers because Mikula will be a big loss for this team as well as Ekblad. That's the last thing this team needs is for him to be out again because he's starting to get his mojo working on the defensive side of things for the Panthers. Excuse me. So game five will be tomorrow night, guys. I'm not sure if it's 7 or 7 30, but it will be in Tampa. Close out game for the Panthers. Let's cross our fingers that they do. They better show up, I hope, like they did in game number one. So far, they've been great on the road. And teams in the playoffs so far have been playing great on the road. I saw a graphic last night. I believe it's 7 and 2 or 7 and 4 for teams on the road so far in the playoffs. But enjoy the game tomorrow, guys. I will probably have another episode for you to go over a little pregame analysis. And if there are any line changes or suspensions, I will go over that as well. But enjoy your Tuesday. I will have another video up for you guys tomorrow. And don't forget to like, subscribe, and comment down below. Again, thank you guys so much for watching Panthers Digest. I'm your host, Greg Andrews.