Paul Maurice Shares Opinion on Aaron Ekblad's Controversial Hit That Took Brandon Hagel Out Of The Game
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The Florida Panthers head coach Paul Maurice shared his take on Aaron Ekblad's controversial hit that took Brandon Hagel out of the game last night.
The series between the Florida Panthers and the Tampa Bay Lightning has been intense so far, and last night, it was no different. The Panthers hosted the Lightning for the fourth game of the series and managed to take a 3-1 lead over the Lightning with a 4-2 win.
The game was fiercely contested, with the score being held at 2-2 for most of the evening.
However, in the last minutes of the game, the Panthers scored, forcing the Lightning to remove Andrei Vasilevskiy, and Florida left the arena with the win.
At some point in the game, the Panthers were behind 2-1, and Paul Maurice opened up on the importance of being able to come back in his post-game press conference:
"We haven't had a lot of these this year. They have been grinders. It has been tough. We had key guys out of the lineup. So, we don't have the history of the comeback and that's a little tougher. It was really important mentally to come back."
Later, the Panthers head coach was asked to provide comments on an incident that occurred in the game.
Indeed, Hagel had to leave the game after getting on the receiving end of a dangerous hit by Aaron Ekblad.
Check it out:
Ekblad wasn't penalized for the hit, while Hagel retreated to the locker room.
After the game, Paul Maurice shared his take on the hit:
"I want to be consistent with what I've said. On the Hagel, I saw it. I've seen it before. Saw it last year. We'll all coach, the players will play, the refs will make the calls, and the league will do what they will. I just want to be-I don't want to use this platform to start making my case on this. Everybody's got a job to do. I'll stay in my lane."
With the past skirmishes between Paul Maurice and Jon Cooper, Maurice decided to go with the politically correct answer. Last time, it led to both coaches chirping each other in press conferences.
The Lightning are now one loss away from being eliminated, meaning we could be nearing the end of the Cooper/Maurice saga.
| POLL | ||
AVRIL 29 | 286 ANSWERS Paul Maurice Shares Opinion on Aaron Ekblad's Controversial Hit That Took Brandon Hagel Out Of The Game Do you think Aaron Ekblad should've been sent to the penalty box for his hit on Brandon Hagel? | ||
| Yes | 245 | 85.7 % |
| No | 41 | 14.3 % |
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