After a wild preseason finale between the Florida Panthers and Tampa Bay Lightning, suspensions and discipline have been handed out. The NHL announced on Monday that both J.J. Moser and Scott Sabourin were suspended by the Department of Public Safety. Moser was given a two-game suspension, while Sabourin was handed a four-game ban.
The Lightning organization was given a $100,00 fine and Tampa Bay head coach Jon Cooper was fined $25,000. League officials declined to explain further.
The DoPS handed a couple of suspensions to Scott Sabourin and J.J. Moser for their part in the Battle of Florida chaos in pre-season.
https://embed.bsky.app/static/embed.js
Tampa Bay Lightning Suspensions Handed Out to Two Players
The suspensions stem from Saturday’s preseason finale that saw 312 penalty minutes, including 65 penalties and 13 game misconducts. Tampa Bay called up six players from AHL Syracuse for the game. The Lightning were answering some previous rough play from the Panthers earlier in the preseason.
Moser will miss Tampa Bay’s first two games of the season. However, it’s unclear when Sabourin will serve his suspensions. Sabourin was sent down to Syracuse after Saturday’s game and only played in one NHL game last campaign. He was given a match penalty after only 19 seconds on the ice after tangling with Florida defenceman Aaron Ekblad just 2:17 into the game.
Moser’s suspension came for boarding Panthers forward Jesper Boqvist during that game. The Tampa Bay blueliner was assessed a major penalty and game misconduct.
What It Means
This game was a wild one that saw Florida’s Niko Mikkola being credited with an assist midway through the third period. However, Mikkola had already been ejected and the goal was then disallowed.
There has been plenty of bad blood between the Sunshine State rivals as the callups happened one day after the Lightning and Panthers had another preseason game featuring 49 penalties and 186 penalty minutes.
Things are going to get plenty spicy between the two teams. Tampa Bay and Florida will play each other for the first time this season on November 15.
Main photo by: Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images
The post Suspensions Handed Out to Tampa Bay Lightning Players appeared first on Last Word On Hockey.