The rivalry between the Tampa Bay Lightning and Florida Panthers isn’t an old one, but boy is it intense. “We know them really well. We hate each other, and you can see it in our games. They bring out the best of us, and we do the same with them. We want to be better than they are,” said Sasha Barkov back in 2021. And with Brandon Hagel‘s fiery move in Game 2 that has landed him in hot water, the ‘you can see it in our games part’ has become extra obvious. But despite the punishment being meted out by the NHL, Hagel still has his defenders.

So let’s break down the incident in question. It all went down in the middle of the third period when Hagel landed a strong hit on Barkov, leaving Barkov crumpled on the ice for a while. Hagel went in for the hit, thinking that Barkov had touched the puck, but once it later emerged that he hadn’t, Hagel was given a 5-minute major for interference. What made things worse was that Barkov exited the ice and didn’t return for the remainder of the game, though he’s been confirmed to return for game 3. However, the whole incident led to the NHL’s Department of Player Safety handing Hagel a 1-game suspension, as it also appeared that Hagel had made some contact with Barkov’s head. But with the fire raining down on Hagel, Paul Bissonnette was playing devil’s advocate.

During a recent episode of the Spittin’ Chiclets podcast, Bissonnette countered that anyone in Hagel’s position would’ve done the same thing. “Like when I first saw it, I thought that Barkov clearly poked the puck away from McDonough. So the minute that he touches that, you could argue, ‘Hey, that wasn’t his guy, and it was a split second late. Therefore, Hagel still ends up with a five-minute interference, major,” he pointed out.

I just think that because it was a hockey play, like he was going in there to make a hockey play, with no intent—yeah, maybe he was tryna put him through the end wall, but f*** it, you don’t think Florida’s trying to do that with every f***ing hit that they’re throwing? From even a legal perspective? So if Bennett is tracking that puck and that’s the point, he’s following through on that hit, so let’s not be hypocrites about that”. Bissonnette further argued that in such a high-octane game with razor-thin margins, there was no way Hagel could’ve bailed out of the hit even if he wanted to.

Bissonnette added some context by drawing attention to a previous incident that once involved Sam Bennett and Brad Marchand. “Considering that Bennett was the guy who ended up getting Marchand, I feel like going into that, there was more intent than there was for Hagel,” he said, referencing Bennett’s hit on Marchand in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference semifinals last year, where Bennett defended the play as a natural part of playoff hockey.

And despite all the evidence, Bennett wasn’t penalized, which may cause some fans to see Hagel’s suspension as the NHL bringing down the hammer too hard on what was just an unfortunately timed hit. A hit that any other player in that position would’ve made too. But just like on the Spittin’ Chiclets podcast, the rest of the NHL community has been busy debating the hit too.

What does everyone else have to say about Brandon Hagel’s hit and subsequent suspension?

Well, when it’s Elliotte Friedman speaking, we better listen. Friedman highlighted his views on the latest 32 Thoughts podcast. “But, you know, Barkov never touched the puck. And, you know, some people were like, he didn’t hit him in the head. Fine, that’s good. He didn’t hit him in the head, but he wasn’t eligible to be hit. Like it wasn’t there. I was actually shocked,” he said, making it clear that Barkov wasn’t even eligible to be hit in the first place.

As the league itself stated, “It’s important to note that Barkov is never in possession of the puck on this play and is therefore not eligible to be checked in any manner.” But while Friedman toed the same line as the NHL, the Lightning were understandably a lot more miffed about the whole incident.

For instance, Coach Jon Cooper didn’t even think it warranted a major penalty. “Refs made the call. I was a little surprised it was a (major) … five minutes in a 1-0 game with eight minutes to play, nine minutes to play; that’s a tough situation to be in,” he said. Close to being 2-0 down in the series at that point, Cooper only had the scoreboard in mind.

Now with Hagel’s controversial suspension, Game 3 looked like it would be a high-intensity affair, and oh, did it live up to that expectation. As though affronted by the whole Brandon Hagel suspension, Tampa Bay came roaring back to life to hand Florida a 5-1 drubbing right at the Amerant Bank Arena. With home-ice advantage seemingly nonexistent in the series, Game 4 looks like it will reveal all. Will Tampa Bay continue their ascendance? Or will the Panthers recover from their defeat at home to return to the form of the first two games?