Florida Panthers defenseman Niko Mikkola's night on the ice Monday night just ended prematurely, as he was ejected from Game 4 of their first-round series matchup against the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Mikkola was slapped with a five-minute major penalty and got thrown out of the contest after a game misconduct for boarding Lightning forward Zemgus Girgensons, who was already down on his knees along the boards when he received a vicious hit from Mikkola.
It remains to be seen whether Mikkola will get additional punishments for his actions in Game 4. For what it's worth, Mikkola was fined $5,000 last March for an unsportsmanlike conduct that he committed during a game against the Montreal Canadiens.
The 29-year-old Finnish sparked strong reactions from fans online following his hit that got him ejected from the Lightning game.
“What was Niko Mikkola thinking?” one asked.
From another social media user on X (formerly Twitter): “Niko Mikkola assessed a five minute major and a game misconduct for attempted first degree murder.”
Via a different commenter: “The dirty play continues by the Panthers with Niko Mikkola cross-checking Girgensons into the boards while he's on his knees. That's almost like curb stomping someone. That should be a suspension. He deserved to get kicked out of the game.”
“Stupid penalty to take there, that was a cheap shot and wasn’t needed,” chimed in a commenter.
“Should be suspended for the rest of the playoffs,” another fan commented.
The Panthers were already down a goal at the time of Mikkola's ejection, but their special teams somehow found a way to prevent Tampa Bay from scoring during the Bolts' five-minute power play.
The defending Stanley Cup champions Panthers are looking to bury Tampa Bay in a 3-1 series deficit but the Bolts are showing tremendous fight in Game 4. The Lightning scored the first two goals of the contest with Erik Cernak and Mitchell Chaffee scoring back-to-back goals in the second period before Anton Lundell put the Panthers on the board, also in the second frame.
Panthers erase deficit with 2 goals in 11 seconds, beat Lightning 4-2 to take 3-1 series lead
Aaron Ekblad and Seth Jones scored third-period goals 11 seconds apart and the Florida Panthers stormed from behind to beat the Tampa Bay Lightning 4-2 on Monday night to take a 3-1 lead in the first-round series.
Anton Lundell also scored. Carter Verhaeghe added an empty netter. Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 18 shots.
The Panthers had managed just three shots on goal in the third before Ekblad tied it on a putback with 3:47 remaining. Jones found the back of the net shortly after as the Panthers erased a two-goal deficit in seconds.
Florida will now have a a chance to clinch the series Wednesday night in Tampa.
Tampa Bay's Brandon Hagel left in the second period after taking a high hit from Ekblad, who made contact with the left wing’s chin area and sent him onto his back. Hagel went straight to the locker room and no penalty was called.
Mitchell Chaffee and Erik Cernak scored 11 seconds apart in the second period to put the Lightning up 2-1. Andrei Vasilevskiy made 19 saves.
