Matthew Tkachuk gets major penalty for hit on Jake Guentzel.

It will be interesting to see if anything comes of this, especially in light of the recent suspension to Tampa Bay Lightning forward Brandon Hagel.

On Saturday, the Lightning and Florida Panthers clashed for Game 3 of their opening round series in the 2025 Stanley Cup playoffs and once again this game showcased the intense rivalry that these two teams have developed with one another. There was a level of physicality throughout the game, but one that perhaps crossed the line late in the third period.

It would be Florida Panthers star forward Matthew Tkachuk who would cross that line when he delivered what was clearly a late hit to Lightning forward Jake Guentzel with only 5 minutes left to go in the game. The game was also well out of reach at that point, with the Lightning taking a commanding 5-1 lead moments after the hit, which cast the hit from Tkachuk in a bad light.

As a result the NHL officials on the ice would call a 5 minute major on Tkachuk and, after a fairly lengthy video review, the call would stand and Tkachuk was sent to the box with a 5 minute major and exactly 5 minutes left to go in the game.

Here you can see the hit at real speed:

And now some of the replay angles:

As I mentioned the suspension to Brandon Hagel will absolutely have an impact on how this hit is perceived by both the Lightning and Panthers fan bases and there's already plenty of debate about whether or not Tkachuk should face supplemental discipline of his own for this hit.