With the fists no longer flying in Florida, fines are the next order of business.
In what ended up as a 6-1 win for the Lightning in the Battle of Florida on Thursday, all the focus was on a massive brawl that resulted in 13 penalties.
Tensions boiled over between the bitter rivals early in the third, when Matthew Tkachuk shouldered Lightning winger Nikita Kucherov to the ice, and an immediate line brawl broke out.
Douglas was not among the players immediately penalized.
Florida head coach Paul Maurice was also ejected in the aftermath.
“This is so good for the game,” said Hagel post-game, per ESPN’s Greg Wyshynski. “If you look back in the day, the rivalries were insane. It needs to get back into the game. It’s good for the players, shows a lot about the character of guys on your team. They’re fun. They’re playoff games.”
A total of 124 penalty minutes were handed out on the sequence, and Thursday’s matchup featured 147 PIMs overall in the final regular-season matchup between the state rivals.
In a pre-season meeting in October, the Panthers and Lightning combined for an absurd 322 penalty minutes.