Scary scene as Panthers forward drills Jack Hughes from behind leading to complete chaos
Jack Hughes ate a hit-from-behind from Eetu Luostarinen, and the Florida Panthers turning it into a power-play goal had the New Jersey Devils bench boiling.
The contact came hard along the boards. The angle looked dangerous, the kind that usually gets more than a quick two.
New Jersey's response was instant. Sticks came up, bodies piled in, and the scrum took over the game.
Here's what made it explode. The Devils ended up eating the bigger punishment when Brendan Dillon got four minutes for roughing, while Luostarinen only got two.
That penalty math is the story, not the scrum itself. Florida got extra man-advantage time and made it count.
Hughes is too important for New Jersey to shrug this off. He's sitting at 12-27-39, and the Devils' whole attack runs through his touches and timing.
Luostarinen isn't Florida's headline scorer, but he plays a heavy, annoying game. He's at 7-17-24, and he's the exact type who can swing momentum with one collision.
Jack Hughes has New Jersey Devils feeling cheated
Devils fans were already edgy, and this is the kind of sequence that turns frustration into full-on fury in real time.
If the league wants to preach player safety, a hit-from-behind into the boards cannot get brushed off as «two minutes and move on,» especially when the other team gets the real advantage.
That's why the double-minor on Dillon lands like an insult. It feels like New Jersey defended its star, then got punished for it.
Dillon isn't some random call-up either. He's a big-minute defenseman at 3-9-12, and he's usually the guy trying to calm things down, not light the fuse.
Florida loves this kind of game. When things get messy, they want you chasing hits while they chase power plays.
The Devils coach losing it on the bench was predictable. When the call feels backwards, you are coaching against emotion as much as the opponent.
New Jersey has to respond the right way next time. Keep playing, keep skating, and make the refs a footnote instead of the headline.
But yeah, this one is going to linger. When your star gets clipped from behind and you end up shorthanded longer, it sticks in the fanbase for weeks.
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| POLL | ||
MARS 3|181 ANSWERS Scary scene as Panthers forward drills Jack Hughes from behind leading to complete chaos Should the hit-from-behind on Jack Hughes have been more than two minutes? | ||
| Yes | 148 | 81.8 % |
| No | 33 | 18.2 % |
| List of polls | ||