Tampa Bay’s Brandon Hagel exits Game 4 after high hit from Aaron Ekblad

SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) — Brandon Hagel went to the locker room in the second period of the Tampa Bay Lightning’s playoff game against the Florida Panthers after taking a high hit from Aaron Ekblad.

Ekblad landed the hit with his forearm to the chin area of Hagel, who fell directly on his back. He left and didn’t return to the bench for the final eight minutes of the period. There was no penalty on the play.

Hagel returned Monday from a one-game suspension after a late hit that knocked Florida Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov out of Game 2. The NHL’s Department of Player Safety suspended Hagel from the Lightning’s Game 3 win for interference after a disciplinary hearing with him on Friday.

Anton Lundell had given the Panthers a 1-0 lead just before the hit, but Mitchell Chaffee and Erik Cernak scored 11 seconds apart to put Tampa Bay up 2-1 soon after Hagel left the game. ___

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