Florida Panthers guard Aaron Ekblad On Monday night, NHL player safety was led by "high, strong elbow" and paused two games with "high, strong elbow."

With the Panthers leading the first round of the playoff series 3-1, Ekblad will miss Game 5 and Game 6 of this series or the next round of the Panthers.

In the regular season, Ekblad scored 33 points in 55 games, with an average of 23:31 in ice time.

Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper has ruled out Hagel's fifth game.

"He won't be in the game tomorrow. You know why," Cooper said Tuesday.

With less than nine minutes left in the second phase of Florida's 4-2 season victory, Hegel played hockey in the Tampa Bay area near the board. Ekblad slid into him, pulling his right arm back and stretching out an elbow that clearly touched the right side of Hegel's head. Ekblad used his forearm to push Hagel down, and the lightning head bounced off the ice.

Hegel was pulled out of the game due to the attention of the concussion and did not return to the bench.

Ekblad was not punished for the blow and stayed in the game. He will play a key role in the Panthers’ late rally, equalizing the score with a score of 3:47 in Game 4, and won the winner 11 seconds after Florida defensive player Seth Jones.

Ekblad argued at a remote hearing Tuesday that he did not intend to strike Hagel. The NHL ruled that the blow was "a direct blow to the opponent's head, elbow extension, and delivered with the necessary force to complement the discipline."

This is the first time Ekblad has suspended the player safety division in 11 years in his NHL career.

Ekblad missed the first two games of the series and the last 18 games of the regular season after being suspended in March for breach of performance-enhancing drug policies for the league and NHLPA.

Hegel just returned to the Lightning roster in Game 4 after Florida captain Aleksander Barkov intervened in one game. The NHL ruled that Hegel kept in touch with him, which forced Barkov to quit the game. Balkov returned to the Florida lineup and played in Game 3, and the Lightning won in Hegel's absence.

In the regular season, Hegel had 35 goals and 55 assists in 82 games in Tampa Bay.

Cooper said the body was not surprising in the Battle of Florida.

"Whether it's physical or by the league, players lack the game. So it's going to be talked about," he said. "But if anyone has followed Tampa and Florida over the last five to six years, that's how these series are. It's a little different because the main thing happened, but these are tough series."