Matthew Tkachuk: No Punishment from NHL for Guentzel Hit

SUNRISE — A day after the NHL suspended Tampa Bay Lightning forward Brandon Hagel for his late hit on Sasha Barkov, Florida star Matthew Tkachuk took down Jake Guentzel in Game 3.

With the Panthers down 4-1, Guentzel was coming through the neutral zone and released a pass to Anthony Cirelli which would end up in an empty net for the 5-1 final.

After Guentzel turned, he was flattened by a Tkachuk shoulder.

With 5 minutes left, Tkachuk was basically tossed from the game after a couple of skirmishes broke out all over the ice.

Tkachuk was given the same 5-minute major for interference that Hagel was for his hit on Barkov in Game 3.

Now, Guentzel did not leave the game as Barkov did — and, unlike Barkov, he actually touched the puck — but Tkachuk’s hit was certainly late.

According to Elliotte Friedman, there will be no disciplinary hearing for Tkachuk, so, the matter is closed.

Hagel missed Saturday’s game due to the suspension and will return for Monday’s Game 4 which led to Guentzel comparing the two hits.

“We have seen what has happened this series,’’ Guentzel said. “I am sure the league is going to do its job. I personally think it was late. … We’ll try to let them run around and do that, but we’ll just stick to our game.’’

On Friday, Florida coach Paul Maurice was asked about the Panthers putting bodies on Nikita Kucherov and that it looked like he was being hit every time he was on the ice.

Maurice was jokingly giving a non-answer to the question, saying “the only players we hit are the ones who have pucks.’’

Well, Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper read what Maurice said on social media.

Of course, Maurice was not talking about Hagel at the time — even though some social media sites like Bleacher Report took the quote off Twitter without attribution nor context.

When asked about the Tkachuk hit and whether he thought the NHL would come down with a punishment, Cooper repeated what Maurice said.

It was a pretty slick move from Cooper.

“The only players we hit,’’ Cooper said slowly, “are the ones with pucks.’’

2025 NHL STANLEY CUP PLAYOFFS

EASTERN CONFERENCE 1ST ROUND: GAME 4

TAMPA BAY LIGHTNING @ FLORIDA PANTHERS 

Panthers Lead Best-of-7 Series 2-1

• When: Monday, 7 p.m.
• Where: Amerant Bank Arena, Sunrise
• Local TV: Scripps Sports — WSFL 39 (Miami/FtL); WHDT 9 (WPB); LAFF 36.3 (SWFla)
• National TV: ESPN
• Streaming: Panthers+
• Radio: WAXY 790-AM; WBZT 1230-AM (Palm Beach); WCTH 100.3-FM (Florida Keys); SiriusXM
• Panthers Radio Streaming: SiriusXM 932, NHL App
• Series Schedule — Game 1: Florida 6, @ Tampa Bay 2; Game 2: Florida 2, @ Tampa Bay 0; Game 3: Tampa Bay 5, @ Florida 1; Game 4 at Florida: Monday, 7 (ESPN/Scripps); Game 5 at Tampa: Wednesday (ESPN2/Scripps), 7:30; Game 6* at Florida: Friday, May 2 (TBA); Game 7* at Tampa: Sunday, May 4 (TBA).
• Regular Season Series: Tied 2-2
• All-time Regular Season Series: Florida leads 79-53-19, 10 ties
• All-Time Postgame Series: Tampa Bay Leads 2-1 (won 2021 first-round, 2022 ECS); Florida d. Lightning 4-1 in 2024 first-round.