NEW YORK (AP) — Florida defenseman Aaron Ekblad has been suspended for two games for elbowing Lightning forward Brandon Hagel in the head midway through Game 4 of the Panthers’ first-round series against Tampa Bay.
The NHL's Department of Player Safety announced its ruling after a phone hearing with Ekblad earlier Tuesday. He will be out for Game 5 and either Game 6 of this series or the Panthers’ first game next round.
No penalty was called when Ekblad hit Hagel in the chin with his right elbow and forearm with just under nine minutes left in the second period on Monday night. Hagel left the ice and did not return, and Ekblad scored the first of two goals in 11 seconds late in the third to give the defending Stanley Cup champions a comeback victory and a 3-1 series lead.
Coach Jon Cooper said Hagel would not play in Game 5. Hagel was suspended for Game 3 for his late hit that knocked Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov out of Game 2.
Ekblad missed the first two games and the final 18 of the regular season after being suspended for violating the league and NHLPA's performance-enhancing drug policy. Florida got accustomed to playing without Ekblad.
“If it’s the first time it happens, there’s even questions from the coaching staff about what’s the right adjustment to make in your lineup and how will that play out — there’s a lot of unknown," coach Paul Maurice said. “Because we’ve been through it so much when Aaron’s out we know what the D-pairs are — let’s assume — if he’s out of the lineup.”
Another Panthers defenseman, Niko Mikkola, was fined $5,000 for boarding Tampa Bay's Zemgus Girgensons. Mikkola was given a five-minute major and ejected for the play early in the third period of Game 4.
AP NHL playoffs: https://apnews.com/hub/stanley-cup and https://apnews.com/hub/nhl
Florida Panthers defenseman Aaron Ekblad (5) celebrates his goal during the third period in Game 4 of an NHL hockey Stanley Cup first-round playoff series against the Tampa Bay Lightning, Monday, April 28, 2025, in Sunrise, Fla. (AP Photo/Marta Lavandier)
KRANJSKA GORA, Slovenia (AP) — Paula Moltzan and Mikaela Shiffrin finished within striking distance of Swiss leader Camille Rast in the opening run of a women’s World Cup giant slalom on Saturday.
The Americans stood second and fourth, respectively, with 0.33 and 0.38 seconds to make up in the final leg. They were separated by Italian prodigy Lara Colturi, who competes for Albania and was one-hundredth ahead of Shiffrin in third.
Shiffrin holds the women’s record of 22 World Cup wins in the discipline. But with six weeks to go until the Feb. 15 giant slalom at the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics, the 2018 gold medalist has not been on a GS podium for 10 World Cup races since January 2024.
Shiffrin suffered from PTSD last season following a horrifying crash at her home race in Killington in November 2024 and has been working her way back up the GS rankings since her return more than two months later.
On Saturday, Shiffrin briefly celebrated with both arms in the air after she finished.
“Happy and satisfied are different, because I would like to be faster, but I'm taking steps and I feel very good with that,” Shiffrin told Austrian TV when asked whether she was 100% happy with her first run.
“Last year, I remember watching this race from home and I thought, ‘Oh, I can’t do that.' So, it's pretty incredible to be here one year later and to be in the mix with the fastest women right now.”
Rast, who is the world champion in slalom, gained her advantage on the upper part of the Podkoren 3 course, posting the fastest times in the first two sections.
The Swiss racer finished second in a GS in Austria last week for her best career result in the discipline. Her two wins both came in slalom, most recently in January 2025.
Moltzan raced with a bruised back following a nasty crash in last week’s GS. Her career best result in the discipline is a second place, from the season-opening race in October.
Nina O’Brien in seventh added to a strong showing by the U.S. ski team.
Discipline leader Julia Scheib, who has won three races this season, was fifth. The Austrian will keep the red bib no matter the outcome of the second run, as her closest challenger, New Zealand’s Alice Robinson, skied out for second straight race, this time on a course set by her coach Nils Coberger.
AP skiing: https://apnews.com/hub/alpine-skiing
Austria's Julia Scheib speeds down the course during an alpine ski, women's World Cup giant slalom in Kranjska Gora, Slovenia, Saturday, Jan. 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Gabriele Facciotti)
United States' Paula Moltzan speeds down the course during an alpine ski, women's World Cup giant slalom in Kranjska Gora, Slovenia, Saturday, Jan. 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Marco Trovati)
United States' Mikaela Shiffrin speeds down the course during an alpine ski, women's World Cup giant slalom in Kranjska Gora, Slovenia, Saturday, Jan. 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Marco Trovati)
United States' Mikaela Shiffrin speeds down the course during an alpine ski, women's World Cup giant slalom in Kranjska Gora, Slovenia, Saturday, Jan. 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Marco Trovati)
Switzerland's Camille Rast speeds down the course during an alpine ski, women's World Cup giant slalom in Kranjska Gora, Slovenia, Saturday, Jan. 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Gabriele Facciotti)
