Aaron Ekblad's Dirty Hit Goes Unpunished Right in Front of the Referee

The Battle of Florida has unsurprisingly been incredibly intense in the Stanley Cup Playoffs thus far, and now Game 4 marks the return of Brandon Hagel, who was suspended for Game 3 after his dirty hit to Aleksander Barkov.

To no surprise, the Panthers did not forget about his actions, and on Monday it was Aaron Ekblad to return the favour, as he hit Hagel blatantly in front of the officials in Game 4, with the referee somehow letting it go uncalled.

It wasn't the dirtiest hit the Stanley Cup Playoffs have ever seen, but it was incredibly unnecessary, and as he should have been, Head Coach Jon Cooper was furious with the officials for the no-call, and he showed that intensity on the bench after his team scored 2 goals in 11 seconds after the play.

After the play, Hagel headed straight to the locker room, and while it's no surprise that the Panthers targeted him, taking someone down with intent to injure isn't the way to go about it.

We will continue to update you on this situation as it develops, as missing Hagel could be a crucial turning point in a series that sits on a knifes edge with Florida leading 2-1 heading into Game 4, but with two loaded teams that clearly hate each other, absolutely anything could happen in this series as both teams look to get back to the Stanley Cup Playoffs.