Things are heating up in the state of Florida and not just the outside temperatures! On the ice, the Battle of Florida is in full swing. The Florida Panthers and Tampa Bay Lightning are entwined in a best of seven playoff series. Unfortunately, what could have been an excellent series featuring two powerhouse teams has been marred by officiating. In any series, the officiating should be fair and not give even the appearance of favoring one team over another. Sadly, and to the detriment of the Bolts, the officiating has had a major hand in this series thus far.
The Start of the Officiating Problems
The Panthers took control of this series with a decisive win in game one. The Lightning did not look ready for the battle. Nothing to blame on officiating.
Fast forward to game two. The Bolts were much improved but still found themselves trailing 1-0 midway through the third period. They were pressing as hard as they could but not beating Sergei Bobrovsky in net. Then, the Panthers had some pressure. Brandon Hagel (one of his team’s best defensive forwards) checked Aleksander Barkov when Barkov did not have and had not touched the puck. Hagel had been anticipating the puck going to Barkov and his check was to try to prevent a potential scoring play. It was a check to the head and a penalty was assessed. It made sense to assess a penalty since it was a check to the head.
The call was interference, which is always a two-minute minor penalty in the NHL. In this case, it was called as a five-minute major. Fans were perplexed. A five-minute major for interference? To their credit, the Bolts killed off the full five minutes. Unfortunately, it was five minutes in the third period of a close game where they could not have one of their star players on the ice.
Panthers’ coach Paul Maurice attempted to justify his team’s performance and the penalties assessed during the game by explaining that his players only hit players who have the puck.
And it just got worse from there.
From Officiating to Suspending
The day after game two, it was announced that there would be a hearing for Brandon Hagel for his check on Barkov. Barkov had left the game after the check and not returned. The team told the media that his status for game three was questionable. Hagel received a one-game suspension and had to sit out game three. To the surprise of no one, Barkov was completely fine for game three.
The Lightning had a nice win in Sunrise in game three. With just over five minutes remaining in regulation, the Panthers trailed by three and pulled Bobrovsky from the net in favor of an extra attacker. Jake Guentzel passed the puck to a streaking Anthony Cirelli who wristed a shot into the open net. The Panthers trailed 5-1 with five minutes remaining.
Then came Matthew Tkachuk. He hit Guentzel in the head well after Guentzel had passed off the puck. There was absolutely no reason for this check to the head. It was late and had nothing to do with preventing a scoring play or the heat of a close game. The hit was purely an intent to injure a highly skilled player on the opposing team. That is not what hockey should be about. The NHL absolutely needs to send a message that intent to injure is never okay. So much for the Panthers only hitting guys who have the puck.
Tkatchuk did get a five-minute major for interference (as Hagel had in the game before), but no hearing was held. No suspension.
The Campbell Effect?
In a hotly contested series, the NHL would want to avoid even the appearance of impropriety. However, impropriety has gone hand in hand with the father and son Campbell men for many years now. Colin Campbell is the executive vice president and director of hockey operations. He has a history of accusations of corruption for trying to influence referees’ calls against his son Greg when Greg played for the Boston Bruins. Today, his son Gregory is the Assistant General Manager for the Florida Panthers. And since he took that position, there has been a history in the league of ignoring blatant calls against the Florida Panthers. Appearance of impropriety?
Officiating Game Four
The officiating in the series through the first three games was certainly questionable. But Game Four reached a new low. The Panthers clearly were emboldened by the lack of a suspension to Tkachuk for his intent to injure Jake Guentzel.
As the midway point of the game approached, the Panthers broke the scoreless tie as Anton Lundell scored. Moments later, Aaron Ekblad leveled Brandon Hagel causing a concussion. Hagel immediately left the game with a concussion. No penalty was called. Hagel has already been ruled out for game five.
Since the conclusion of the game, the league has reviewed the play. Aaron Ekblad is suspended for two games.
But the damage was done. After facing no discipline during the game Monday night, Aaron Ekblad was on the ice to score the game-tying goal late in the third period. Fans can (rightfully) criticize the Lightning for not holding the lead with under five minutes remaining in regulation. However, one player who would, no doubt, have seen a lot of ice time during the final five minutes was Brandon Hagel. Because Hagel was unavailable, the other forwards all had to pick up extra minutes during a key time and were obviously tired.
Mikkola Joins the Dirtiness
With the Panthers’ dirty play going on completely unchecked, Niko Mikkola decided to join in. Just 19 seconds into the third period, he knocked Zemgus Girgensons to the ice and once Girgensons was already down, Mikkola again slammed his head into the ice. Mikkola did get a five-minute major penalty and a ten-minute misconduct. Following the game, he was fined $5,000. No suspension.
It All Started With Tkachuk
The lack of a suspension to Tkachuk after the Hagel suspension set the tone. The Bolts realized they could not get away with legitimate hockey hits. The Panthers realized they could get away with intents to injure. The Bolts have lost their second leading scorer from the regular season. And make no mistake, the Panthers will continue going after key players.
Unfortunately, the loss in game four felt demoralizing for the Bolts. It would be wonderful if the disgraceful officiating could fire the boys in blue up enough to have them win three straight. Fan bases throughout the league are cheering for such an uprising. No one wants to face the villains of the league– the dirty Panthers who have now been emboldened by shameful officiating. A victory for the Panthers is a victory for their dirty tactics and for disgraceful officiating having a hand in the outcome of a series.
