{"id":194351,"date":"2025-10-07T02:53:07","date_gmt":"2025-10-07T02:53:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/194351\/"},"modified":"2025-10-07T02:53:07","modified_gmt":"2025-10-07T02:53:07","slug":"lightnings-scott-sabourin-suspended-four-games","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/194351\/","title":{"rendered":"Lightning’s Scott Sabourin Suspended Four Games"},"content":{"rendered":"

10\/6\/25 5:35 PM:\u00a0The NHL has also issued punishments to the Lightning organization and Lightning head coach Jon Cooper \u201cfor their actions culminating in the events\u201d of Saturday\u2019s contest, according to an official announcement<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Lightning have been fined $100K, while Cooper himself has been fined $25K. Both fines were levied by the NHL\u2019s Hockey Operations department and will go to charitable causes.<\/p>\n

10\/6\/25 5:15 PM: Tampa Bay Lightning forward Scott Sabourin<\/a> has been suspended four games for roughing committed against Florida Panthers defenseman Aaron Ekblad<\/a>, the NHL Department of Player Safety announced today<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The play in question happened early in the Lightning\u2019s preseason game Saturday in Florida. Sabourin delivered a clean check on Ekblad behind the net, but then after the check he, as the Department of Player Safety termed it in their ruling video<\/a>, \u201cdelivered an un-gloved sucker punch to the head\u201d of Ekblad. They noted a few key aspects that prompted such a significant suspension, which has been levied on top of the game misconduct Sabourin was already assessed.<\/p>\n

Firstly, the Department of Player Safety noted that Sabourin delivered \u201ca forceful, ungloved punch directly to Ekblad\u2019s face.\u201d They also took into account the previous history between the two clubs and the situation of the game to come to the conclusion that Sabourin\u2019s actions were \u201cintentional\u201d and done \u201cfor the purpose of retribution and message-sending.\u201d\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Sabourin\u2019s suspension is notable because he is not a full-time NHL player. Since the start of the 2022-23 season, Sabourin has played in just four NHL games and was originally reassigned<\/a> to the Lightning\u2019s AHL affiliate, the Syracuse Crunch, on Oct. 1 before he was called up<\/a> on Oct. 4 for the team\u2019s preseason contest against the Panthers.<\/p>\n

Since he is likely to be back in Syracuse to begin the season \u2013 and for an indefinite period moving forward \u2013 this suspension will likely not have a short-term impact on Sabourin\u2019s ability to dress for games. This four-game suspension does not apply in the AHL, meaning Sabourin must be on an NHL roster for four games in order for the suspension to be considered served.<\/p>\n

Seeing as Sabourin has just four NHL games played over the last two seasons, it\u2019s entirely possible that the 33-year-old AHL bruiser could face a long wait until his NHL game.<\/p>\n

This is not Sabourin\u2019s first time receiving supplemental discipline in his professional career, though it is his first NHL suspension. In 2020, he was fined $1.9K for unsportsmanlike conduct<\/a> when he squirted an opposing player with a water bottle from the bench. In the AHL, Sabourin also has some disciplinary history: he was assessed an automatic one-game suspension<\/a> after receiving an instigator penalty in 2017, suspended one game<\/a> in 2021, and three games in 2024<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Sabourin is not the only Lightning player who is set to miss time due to conduct stemming from the same game. Defenseman J.J. Moser<\/a> also had a hearing today with the Department of Player Safety, and was levied a two-game suspension. In Moser\u2019s case, he has earned this suspension for boarding Panthers forward Jesper Boqvist<\/a>. He was, like Sabourin, also assessed a game misconduct for the play.<\/p>\n

The play in question occurred late in the first period, when Boqvist went to retrieve a puck in the offensive zone. Moser closed in on the Panthers forward and delivered a hit that the Department of Player Safety said<\/a> drove \u201ca defenseless Boqvist dangerously into the wall.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Department noted that the play was not a result of a sudden movement by Boqvist that changed a would-be legal body check into an illegal one \u2013 instead they noted that there was a level of intentionality from Moser in the play. Moser has not been fined or suspended thusfar in his NHL career, which alongside the nature of the play itself may have contributed in his lighter suspension compared to Sabourin.<\/p>\n

Photo courtesy of Nick Turchiaro-USA TODAY Sports<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"10\/6\/25 5:35 PM:\u00a0The NHL has also issued punishments to the Lightning organization and Lightning head coach Jon Cooper…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":194352,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[49,48,50519,91515,82,745],"class_list":["post-194351","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-player-safety","tag-scott-sabourin","tag-sports","tag-tampa-bay-lightning"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/194351","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=194351"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/194351\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/194352"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=194351"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=194351"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=194351"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}