"Preseason hockey is meaningless by design, a handful of perfunctory tune-ups that even hardcore fans barely notice in the run-up to opening night, when the games finally start to count. Yet in the past week the Panthers and Lightning turned a pair of exhibition contests into three-hour fever dreams of violence: 114 penalties totaling nearly 500 minutes in the box, 16 game misconducts and one ejected player who somehow picked up an assist on an eighth goal that shouldn't have counted."
"It all kicked off last Thursday when Florida's AJ Greer sucker-punched Tampa's Brandon Hagel in the head a callback to last spring's playoff meeting between the teams, when Hagel's borderline hit on Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov sparked Florida defenseman Aaron Ekblad's retaliatory headshot that left Hagel concussed. Greer's cheap shot, punished with only a $2,000 fine, broke hockey's unspoken code: you never go after a player with a known concussion history, especially one you've already injured."
The Panthers–Lightning rivalry escalated from regional indifference to violent, high-profile confrontations during preseason exhibition games. The pair of contests produced 114 penalties, nearly 500 penalty minutes, 16 game misconducts and an ejected player who was involved in an invalid goal. The violence followed AJ Greer's sucker punch to Brandon Hagel, which referenced a prior playoff incident in which Hagel's hit led to Aaron Ekblad's retaliatory headshot and a concussion. Greer received a $2,000 fine, while Tampa's retaliatory tactics drew heavy fines and suspensions and no penalties for Florida, fueling claims of NHL favoritism and cronyism tied to league leadership connections.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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