Sergachev crashes into the boards head first after a blindside hit from Hornqvist
In the final minutes of Game 4 between the Tampa Bay Lightning and the Florida Panthers, things are getting nasty, and Lightning defenseman Mikhail Sergachev has been on the receiving end of it all.
The Florida Panthers were hoping to send a message in the final moments of Game 4 despite the fact that the game was already well out of control and the Lightning were in place to take a commanding 3 - 1 lead in the series. A thunderous body check from seasoned forward Patric Hornqvist, which left Sergachev down on the ice for several long moments, was perhaps the loudest part of the post.
The hit itself was not particularly dirty, Hornqvist did not appear to be late in real time although no doubt there are many who would have liked to see him awarded a boarding call on the play, but it was a devastating one. Hornqvist caught Sergachev with a blind side hit that was delivered through the body, but one that sent the defensem head first into the boards in an ugly way.
When you consider the fact that Nikita Kucherov had also left the game with an apparent injury in the game's third period, this proved to be a relatively costly outing for the Lightning in spite of their victory.
Things continued to degenerate from there with the officials struggling to keep this one under control, with both teams even getting into a scrum late in the game after a clash between Yanni Gourde and Ryan Lomberg setting that off towards the end of the third period and perhaps setting the tone for Game 5.
| POLL | ||
Did Florida play a dirty third period? | ||
| Yes | 148 | 63.5 % |
| No | 85 | 36.5 % |
| List of polls | ||
