After taking down the Toronto Maple Leafs 6-1 on their home ice, the Florida Panthers were up against the Carolina Hurricanes at Lenovo Center. The results? The score was 5-2, and the Panthers were in the lead. Carter Verhaeghe, Aaron Ekblad, A.J. Greer, Sam Bennett, and Eetu Luostarinen all scored for the Panthers, while the Canes got their two goals thanks to Sebastian Aho and Jackson Blake. Also, Florida’s MVP was Sergei Bobrovsky, who made 31 saves out of 33 shots. But there were definitely a few troublemakers in the NHL match, like Brad Marchand and Aaron Ekblad.

What were they up to now? During the third period at 8:15, a Panthers forward got a misconduct for getting into a fight with the Canes’ Shayne Gostisbehere. It was really intense drama. Marchand went after Gostisbehere while the Hurricanes defenseman was fighting for the puck in his own zone, aiming for what seemed like a late hit.

Even though the refs didn’t blow the whistle, Gostisbehere decided to take action, launching the puck at Marchand just moments after the play. Marchand went after Gostisbehere, and they had a quick exchange of punches. But, when it came to Aaron Ekblad, it was totally the opposite.

The Panthers defenseman became the hot topic of conversation over on the r/hockey subreddit. u/QuadRail posted a video saying, “Ekblad late elbow to Jackson Blake’s head.”

Hitting someone with an elbow to the head isn’t just risky; it definitely deserves a penalty. So, it didn’t actually happen in the game, but it definitely grabbed a lot of attention. When Blake scored at 16:19 in the third period, the video showed Ekblad casually charging behind him and elbowing the Canes forward. And the hit was a strong one, as Blakes immediately fell on the ice. So, how did the community respond to this?

Brad Marchand’s teammate is catching all the heat

The NHL Rulebook talks about elbowing in Rule 45. It says that if a player uses their elbow to check someone illegally, they should get a penalty. The penalty’s severity really hinges on a few things, like how hard the hit was, where the contact happened, and if anyone got injured. On camera, it did look like a massive hit from Aaron Ekblad. So, since the referees didn’t do anything about it, one fan chimed in with a bit of sarcasm, saying, “The NHL will surely hold him accountable, right? Right?”

It looks like this isn’t the first time Ekblad has elbowed someone. During Game 4 of the first-round series between the Florida Panthers and the Tampa Bay Lightning, Ekblad threw a high, powerful elbow right to the head of Lightning forward Brandon Hagel. The hit happened late in the second period while Hagel was working the puck close to the boards. Ekblad skated in, pulled his right arm back, and threw an elbow that definitely hit the right side of Hagel’s head, making Hagel’s head bounce off the ice.

Even though there were no penalties handed out during the game, the NHL’s Department of Player Safety ended up suspending Ekblad for two games afterward. A fan pointed this out, saying, “Must’ve been an accident like all the other ones.” One fan commented, “That suspension sure taught him.”

After getting suspended for hitting Hagel, Ekblad made it clear, saying, “I was coming for his chest. I caught him in the chin and that’s unfortunate, but it’s not my intention. I’m never out to hurt anybody on the ice.” So, this has some fans scratching their heads, with one comment saying, “Crazy that one team seems to have the problem with ‘accidentally’ hitting people in the head.”

Frustrated with Florida’s aggressive tactics, this fan expressed, “Why and how does this team get away with this s***? It’s B f’ing S.” You know, with all the chatter in the community, it’s interesting to see the Panthers taking the lead over the Canes. It’ll be fun to see how long the Eastern Conference holds up, especially since Florida seems to be on a roll.