NHL issues stern warning to Panthers and Lightning per Elliotte Friedman

The past few years have been absolute chaos in the Battle of Florida, and after the Stanley Cup Playoffs meeting a season ago, things have only deteriorated since then, with the rivalry only growing stronger and stronger.

It was Brandon Hagel who fired the first shot with a physical move, but since then, the Panthers have been out for revenge, and despite several suspension worthy plays, the two-time defending Champions are yet to be punished.

Things continued this way on Saturday night when a whopping 136 penalty minutes were handed out in what ended up being a tense Battle of Florida, with the Lightning emerging victorious 4-2.

While the league has shown their bias in struggling to discipline the Panthers, they did take some action, sending out a very stern warning on Saturday before their game, warning them not to 'cross the line'.

However, this didn't stop the two teams from putting on another physical, fiery classic, and now, it appears as though the NHL's Department of Player Safety not stepping in early has come back to haunt the league.

Only time will tell if the league step in and actually start disciplining this team, but given the chaos we've seen in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, the regular season and even the regular season, and as of right now, there's no one to blame but the league themselves.