Lightning HC Tired of Talking About Questionable Hits

Tensions are higher than ever between the Florida Panthers and Tampa Bay Lightning.

Apr 11, 2025; Tampa, Florida, USA; Tampa Bay Lightning head coach Jon Cooper looks on against the Detroit Red Wings during the second period at Amalie Arena. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement Neitzel-Imagn Images / Kim Klement Neitzel-Imagn Images

The Tampa Bay Lightning find themselves down 3-1 in their opening-round series to the Florida Panthers and on the brink of elimination. Not only are the Lightning playing far from their best hockey, the series with their cross-state rivals has gotten pretty chippy, to say the least.

Game 2 saw Lightning forward Brandon Hagel earn a suspension following a huge hit against Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov. The next game, Panthers’ star Matthew Tkachuk took a run at Lightning forward Jake Guentzel, but wasn’t suspended for fined for his actions.

With tensions at a new height, the fireworks were back for Game 4. The Panthers had multiple players throw questionable hits on their way to a 4-2 win.

Following the game, Lightning head coach Jon Cooper opened up about how exhausted he was with talking about these borderline hits from the Panthers.

Jon Cooper says postgame that it's "getting tiresome answering questions about a hit every single game" pic.twitter.com/19McZhTzyH

— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) April 29, 2025

“It’s getting tiresome talking answering questions about a hit after every single game,” Cooper said before turning the question to the media. “I’ll ask you. You asked me the question, why are you asking the question? Do you have anything to say about it?”

There was a brief pause before Cooper pointed his anger towards the rest of the media.

“If anybody in here has something, stand up and let me know,” Cooper said. “Alright, let’s move on.”

Cooper was clearly emotional behind the Lightning bench, especially after the first egregious hit of the night. Panthers’ defenseman Aaron Ekblad threw his forearm into the head of Hagel, but no call was made on the play.

In one replay, you can clearly see an official watching the forearm shiver, but no arm goes up from the official to signal a penalty.

Many believed Ekblad should have been tossed from the game for his hit, but he stuck around, eventually scoring the game-tying goal in the third period.

Before Ekblad could tie the game, however, the Panthers did lose Niko Mikkola to a game misconduct. After a board battle with Zemgus Girgensons, who fell to his knees against the boards, Mikkola laid a huge hit into the prone Lightning forward.

Mikkola was called for boarding and tossed from the game with a 10-minute misconduct penalty.

It’s not yet clear if the league will look into further discipline for one or both of Ekblad and Mikkola, but down 3-1 in the series, it’s clear Cooper is tired of being walked all over by the Panthers with nothing much coming from the league.

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