The Boston Bruins and the Florida Panthers are not done with their first round Stanley Cup playoff series just yet, and facing elimination the Florida Panthers attempted to send a message late in the third period of Game 4.
All hell broke loose when Panthers agitator Matthew Tkachuk invaded the Bruins crease and drew the ire of Bruins goaltender Linus Ullmark, eventually leading to a dogpile on Tkachuk and then a larger brawl between the Panthers and the Bruins on the ice as neither team was willing to give ground.
Tkachuk would attempt to get at Ullmark during all of the chaos and the Bruins goaltender appeared eager to throw fists with the Panthers forward, but the National Hockey League officials on the ice were having none of it.
A controversial incident at the end of the first period of Game 4 between the Boston Bruins and Florida Panthers on Sunday afternoon may have become even more controversial thanks to a sharp-eyed fan.
During the first period of today’s game, Panthers forward Matthew Tkachuk delivered a cross-check to the back of Bruins forward Garnet Hathaway after the first period had just come to an end.
What everyone seems to have missed however was an extra cheap shot courtesy of Panthers forward Sam Bennett, everyone except a fan that identifies themselves simply as ‘Dale’ on social media. Dale noticed that while Hathaway was down on the ice, Bennett skated over and used the opportunity to give Hathaway a little something extra by giving him a cup check with his stick.
If you pay attention closely, there’s absolutely no doubt about the fact that Bennett hits Hathaway in the groin, and does so quite deliberately as well.
It comes as even less of a surprise now that Hathaway needed a few moments to gather himself before eventually rising back to his feat at the end of the first period.
Boston Bruins forward Garnet Hathaway appears to have been injured in the first period of Game 4 between the Bruins and Florida Panthers, and the Bruins aren’t going to be happy about this one.
Hathaway went down, and stayed down, after a cross-check from Florida Panthers forward Matthew Tkachuk struck him in the back where he has very little protection. A scrum ensued around Hathaway and players pushed and shoved, but as all of this went down, Hathaway remained flat on the ice.
Tkachuk was awarded a 2 minute penalty on the play, but that will be little consolation for the Bruins if Hathaway is unable to continue in this contest.
The Stanley Cup playoffs really appeared to step up in intensity over the course of the weekend, with several teams bringing a new level of physicality to bear against their opponents. That is to be expected as series between two teams wear on and players get more familiar, and more annoyed, with one another… and that is also true of the mind games that go on.
One player that was definitely playing up both of those aspects over the weekend was Florida Panthers forward, and notorious agitator, Matthew Tkachuk. Although his team failed to secure a win over the Boston Bruins, and fell to a 1-3 deficit in the series. Tkachuk was a factor through Game 4 and perhaps none felt the brunt of that more than Bruins forward Garnet Hathaway.
At the end of the first frame on Sunday, Tkachuk delivered a stiff looking cross-check to Hathaway’s lower back. Tkachuk’s stick appeared to strike Hathaway where he has no protection from such a blow, and the Bruins forward would collapse to the ice and remain there for several moments.
Tkachuk though isn’t buying the act from Hathaway and he took the opportunity to say as much when asked about the incident at the end of the first period.
“It’s kinda one of those pretty chippy games.” said Tkachuk. “If you get cross-checked go down, try to draw a penalty. It seems that’s the way this game is kinda going.”
Hathaway would remain in the game but he appeared to be laboring when he came out in the second period, so if he was selling the injury he was pretty committed to his role. That being said these comments from Tkachuk were no doubt designed to get under the skin of his opposition, as is much of what he does, and we’ll have to wait until Game 5 to see what impact, if any, his comments have made.
Game 4 between the Minnesota Wild and the Dallas Stars will go down as a controversial one, with many on the Minnesota Wild side of the equation leaving the game feeling like they got a raw deal from the National Hockey League’s officials. None more so than veteran Wild forward Marcus Foligno.
Following the conclusion of Game 4, Foligno made no effort to hide his disdain, or avoid any potential fines, when he slammed the officiating in Sunday’s game. Specifically, Foligno objected to a pair of penalty calls that had been made against him during the course of the game.
The first, an interference call that Foligno argues should have been fair game, and a highly controversial “tripping” call that would be levied against Foligno at a pivotal moment late in the game’s third period.
”It’s a joke. It doesn’t make any sense,” said Foligno on Sunday. “I go to hit a guy who touches the puck. It’s not interference. I go, I get high-sticked in the face. It’s not a tripping call when you hit a guy clean on. It’s bullshit.”
Foligno also indicated that he had received no explanation for why the call was made, and used the word “arrogant” to describe what he did encounter from the NHL officials on the ice Sunday night.
The Toronto Maple Leafs find themselves leading their Round 1 Stanley Cup Playoffs series against the Tampa Bay Lightning two games to one following their overtime victory on Saturday night at Amalie Arena. And not only did 2019 Conn Smythe Trophy winner Ryan O’Reilly play a major role in the win by netting the game-tying goal late in regulation, but goaltender Ilya Samsonov turned in arguably his finest career postseason performance.
Samsonov made 36 saves, including shutting down several Grade A scoring chances by Tampa Bay in the third period and in overtime, perhaps none bigger than denying Russian sniper Nikita Kucherov. However, media members were a bit puzzled when Samsonov wasn’t made available to speak to them after the game.
However, Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe wasn’t in the mood to get into why that decision was made, instead offering a sarcastic quip in response.
“Have you been talking to (Tampa Bay Lightning goaltender Andrei) Vasilevskiy in this series?” Keefe replied when asked why Samsonov wasn’t available to talk afterward.
A reporter then hit back by saying that Toronto media members don’t typically speak to the Maple Leafs opposition, Keefe had this to say:
“Let’s just let them play goal,” he said.
Game 4 between the Lightning and Maple Leafs is tonight from Amalie Arena starting at 7:30 PM EST.
The Minnesota Wild suffered an ugly loss in Game 4 of their opening round series against the Dallas Stars, one that was marred by a major controversy in the final moments of the game. In spite of that though you would expect the Wild to shake off the loss and hopefully bounce back in Game 5, but it seems the loss may have been the catalyst for a big change on the backend for the Wild.
On Monday, the Wild announced that they had called up rookie goaltender Jesper Wallstedt to the main roster from the Iowa Wild. It isn’t unusual to see players known as ‘Black Aces’ added to the roster, but they usually come in several at a time and the lone addition of Wallstedt today has raised some eyebrows.
Despite that, Wild insider Mike Russo is reporting that Wallstedt is only being brought in as extra insurance for the team and will be the third goalie moving forward.
When the move was announced there was some minor concern that Wild goaltender Filip Gustavsson may have tweaked something, but most of the speculation actually surrounded veteran Wild goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury. Fleury struggled mightily in the lone playoff appearance he has had thus far for the Wild this season, so much so that there was legitimate reason to believe that Wild head coach Dean Evason may have lost faith in the experienced netminder
Fleury recorded a brutal 7.00 goals against average and a .774 save percentage in that lone outing, so if it is indeed the case you could hardly blame Evason for wanting to keep his options open.
Wallstedt is a former first round pick of the Wild, selected 20th overall at the 2021 NHL Entry Draft, and has no NHL experience under his belt thus far. He recorded a 2.68 goals against average and a .908 save percentage over 28 games with the Iowa Wild of the American Hockey League this season.
The National Hockey League’s Department of Player Safety(DOPS) has come down on Florida Panthers forward Matthew Tkachuk, and I suspect he’s not going to be too happy about it.
On Monday, the DOPS announced that Tkachuk would be fined $5,0000, the maximum allowable amount under the terms of the collective bargaining agreement, for a cross-check he delivered to Boston Bruins forward Garnet Hathaway.
The cross-check was fairly egregious with Tkachuk striking Hathaway from behind, striking him in an unprotected area of his lower back, and doing so after the final horn had sounded for the end of the first period. I suspect that a combination of all of these factors are why the league felt additional discipline was warranted in this instance.
Tkachuk was awarded a 2 minute minor penalty at the time of the incident and he wasn’t happy about that to begin with, indicating during an interview that he felt Hathaway had taken a dive on the play.
“It’s kinda one of those pretty chippy games.” said Tkachuk. “If you get cross-checked go down, try to draw a penalty. It seems that’s the way this game is kinda going.”
He likely will be even less happy now that he has been fined for the same incident.
Toronto Maple Leafs rookie Matthew Knies was initially held out of the Leafs opening round series against the Tampa Bay Lightning, but now that he has been given an opportunity the rookie forward has made his mark.
Knies helped the Leafs get off to a strong start on Saturday night when he played a pivotal role in the game’s opening goal, setting up teammate Noel Acciari in the slot after an odd man rush from the Leafs. Acciari would make no mistake on the play, beating Lightning goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy to give the Leafs a 1-0 lead.
Knies looked thrilled to have picked up his first playoff point, but the reaction from his teammates suggest they may have been even more excited than the youngster was himself.
The Tampa Bay Lightning and the Toronto Maple Leafs are set to clash in Game 3 of their first round Stanley Cup playoff matchup, and now we have a better idea of who will be representing each team tonight.
One of the biggest questions coming into tonight’s game surrounded the status of Lightning defenseman Victor Hedman, and based on the look the Lightning are showing in warmups tonight it does appear as though he will be playing in tonight’s game. Here is a look at the Lightning’s full lineup in warmups:
Meanwhile everything was a question mark for the Maple Leafs with Sheldon Keefe declining to share any details about any potential lineup changes this evening ahead of tonight’s game. That being said, the team does have to warmup, and here is how the Leafs look ahead of Game 3:
