Sergei Bobrovsky takes controversial hit to head from Carolina's Andrei Svechnikov
It's best not to poke the bear.
A controversial play during the second period of Tuesday's Eastern Conference Final Game 1 between the Florida Panthers and Carolina Hurricanes will likely be a hot topic ahead of Game 2.
With the Panthers leading 3-1 during the second period, Andrei Svechnikov took a shot from the left circle that was stopped and covered by Sergei Bobrovsky.
Svhechnikov crashed the net, which is perfectly fine, but it's what he did after that had Panthers players quite upset.
Replay shows Svechnikov appear to look at Bobrovsky and skate through the crease, hitting Bob directly in the head with his upper leg.
Sure looks like Svechnikov knew exactly what he was doing when he hit Bobrovsky in the head. pic.twitter.com/vKhgm5f73s
— David Dwork (@DavidDwork) May 21, 2025
Fortunately for the Panthers, Bobrovsky seemed fine after the hit and continued in the game without issue.
The problem is that this is an incredibly dangerous play, targeting another player's head, if that is in fact that Svechnikov was trying to do.
Whether or not the NHL Department of Player Safety decides to take a closer look at the play remains to be seen.
Throughout Game 1, Carolina was not shy about playing around Florida's goal crease.
The Hurricanes haven't been shy about making contact with Bobrovsky in Game 1 pic.twitter.com/vqoat1wYrw
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) May 21, 2025
One thing that can probably be counted on is the Panthers addressing this it in their own way, on the ice, regardless of what the league decides to do.
This is only Game 1, after all.
LATEST STORIES FROM THE HOCKEY NEWS - FLORIDA
Panthers' Matthew Tkachuk Trolls Hurricanes Ahead Of Game 1
3 Things Panthers Need To Knock Out Hurricanes
Panthers open Eastern Conference Final in Raleigh against stingy Hurricanes
Addition of Brad Marchand to Panthers' third line has set trio ablaze during Stanley Cup Playoffs
Three takeaways: Experience shines through for Panthers, Game 7 was tighter than score indicates
Photo caption: May 20, 2025; Raleigh, North Carolina, USA; Florida Panthers forward Anton Lundell (15) defends against Carolina Hurricanes forward Sebastian Aho (20) during the first period in game one of the Eastern Conference Final of the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs at Lenovo Center. Mandatory Credit: James Guillory-Imagn Images
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Miami Herald
38 minutes ago
- Miami Herald
How many Panthers fans want another Stanley Cup more than sex or $1 million?
Some Panthers puckheads figure even if their team loses this year's Stanley Cup Final against Edmonton, which the Panthers lead 2-1 going into Thursday's Game 4, three consecutive Cup Finals and last year's Stanley Cup counts as unimagined bounty. Smaller groups want another Panthers' Stanley Cup more than they want $1 million, sex in the near future or beer in the next year. That's what says its survey of 2,000 Panthers fans discovered. The study addressed not only personal sacrifice, but personal superstition. READ MORE: Panthers in contract years are thriving in playoffs. What it means for Florida's future Hops, money, sex and marriage ▪ Money: Only 10% of Panthers fans would give up a month's salary for the Panthers to win another Cup, and, just 1% would give up their savings. Neither should surprise anybody living in a metro area with a high rent/income ratio and in a state where half the residents are living without much cushion. READ MORE: Nearly half of Floridians are living paycheck to paycheck, report finds But, one in five fans, 20%, 'would rather see the Panthers win the Stanley Cup than win $1 million in the lottery' themselves. ▪ Sex and marriage: Only 4% said they would give up their marriage or relationship to see the Panthers get another Stanley Cup, but 10% said they can abstain from sex for six months if it meant a Panthers repeat. The survey didn't break down how many of that 10% were married or how many didn't expect to have sex in the next six months anyway. ▪ Beer: Panthes parade with Stanley again, but you don't drink any beer for a year? That's a deal 25% of fans surveyed would make, the most popular sacrifice on the board. ▪ Vacation: A year of vacation days was worth the Stanley Cup to 10% of fans. Not very superstitious...? The superstition that most Panthers fans will admit is 'wearing a certain color' for luck, something 48% said they do. After that, it dropped off precipitously to avoiding betting on the Panthers (14%), 'wear a lucky piece of clothing (e.g. underwear) (10%); perform an athlete's routine (9.5%); watch the game in a specific location (9%); don't eat a certain food (5%); and rub a lucky token (4.5%).
New York Times
an hour ago
- New York Times
How the Oilers are drawing inspiration from a resilient dog sled musher: ‘It's about everyone'
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — The Edmonton Oilers have adopted the mantra of 'We all pull in the same direction' for these playoffs. A sign is hung in their dressing room, home and away, whenever the players are present, with the No. 16 — the number of wins it takes to claim the Stanley Cup — and the emblem of a dog sled musher racing with his team. Advertisement The imagery is not coincidental. The Oilers received a motivational speech from musher Jason Campeau before the playoffs, and his message has served to help unite them and spur them ahead during difficult times. Now would be one of them, as the Oilers trail the Florida Panthers 2-1 in the Stanley Cup Final heading into Game 4 on Thursday. 'I love the fact of, it really does take everyone to do something great,' Campeau said. 'When I look at that message, it's so relatable to this team.' Coach Kris Knoblauch sought someone to rally the group when the Oilers had a bit of downtime in San Jose during their final preparations before their first-round series in Los Angeles. Campeau came recommended by Oilers psychologist Dr. Marty Mrazik. Campeau, 50, checked off a lot of boxes. He's a former hockey player. While playing for the North Bay Centennials, Campeau scored the winning goal of the 1994 Ontario Hockey League final in overtime against a Detroit Junior Red Wings squad coached by Paul Maurice. He went on to play for the University of New Brunswick and attended training camp with the Toronto Maple Leafs before injuries halted his career. He was also successful in the business world. He owned and sold a technology company, which allowed him to retire and start dog sledding a decade ago. Campeau fulfilled a boyhood dream sparked by driving past a dog sled touring company in central Ontario while on summer family vacations. But the biggest reason Mrazik thought Campeau would be the perfect candidate to speak with the Oilers was because he had worked with him before — after a catastrophic accident during a dog sled race that almost cost Campeau his life. 'To hear from somebody who goes through very difficult times and something completely different than hockey was inspiring,' Oilers center Adam Henrique said. 'It was motivation to us,' goalie Stuart Skinner said. 'It brought things to light. That's where things started in the sense of really making sure we stick together going into the playoffs and through each series. It's not easy, but it's not easy what he does.' Campeau was approximately one-tenth of the way through the 1,000-mile Yukon Quest in 2018 when he saw another musher slide out of control while charging up Rosebud Summit, one of the sharpest peaks in dog sled racing. Instinctively, Campeau tried to help as the other team slid down the cliff, but that sent his sled off-kilter and sent him toppling face-first to the icy tundra. Advertisement He was unconscious for approximately 10 minutes. 'The remarkable part of all that is, if I'm not hanging on, the dogs typically would have taken an easy path and just gone right back down the mountain,' Campeau said. 'I got up and I remember every single dog holding the line tight, facing upwards on the mountain, just staring at me, ready to go, which is unheard of.' With his dogs by his side, Campeau felt he could continue. It wasn't until a day later that he realized he wasn't functioning properly, after they'd made it nearly 300 miles down the trail. At first, Campeau thought he was just sleep-deprived, but he kept stumbling and falling over as he fed and bedded his dogs, approximately 50 miles beyond Eagle, Alaska. His body shut down. He eventually passed out from a severe concussion with none of the other racers around, with his parka unzipped amid temperatures below 50 degrees Fahrenheit. 'It came down to life or death,' Campeau said. Other dogs might have left in a similar situation. Campeau's pack of Alaskan Huskies didn't. He's forever thankful to them, especially Spider, whom he compared to Oilers captain Connor McDavid as his 'generational dog.' Spider and the rest of the dogs stayed with him until a trapper and his son found him later that day. He's not sure if they would have noticed him without all the dogs around. They transported Campeau, badly injured and hypothermic, to their nearby home. 'They slowly brought me back to life,' Campeau said. A United States military helicopter was called to transport Campeau to a hospital in Fairbanks, Alaska, but a wicked storm prevented his rescue until the following morning. Campeau asked to see his dogs before he was stretchered into the chopper. 'I'll always remember that,' he said. 'We built a bond, (to) where we're inseparable.' Advertisement Campeau had finished one Quest and two Iditarods — the Stanley Cup of dog sled races — in the years prior to his 2018 harrowing experience. His story resonated with the Oilers. 'He's out there by himself, but, at the same time, with a team,' Henrique said. 'He's got to rely on those dogs, literally, for survival. Everything is on the line. Trying to compare that to what we do — putting everything on the line every single night — it's not life and death, but it's win or lose. We've almost been able to have that mentality as the group. 'With the dogs and what he went through and how we persevered through that, at times, whether we're up or down, you try to bring those same thoughts into what we're doing.' Campeau said he's always trained his dogs to be able to fulfill any role on his team. It's not unlike the Oilers during this playoff run. Mushers typically have 16 dogs on their team, grouped in pairs. The first two are the lead dogs, such as Spider. The second two are the swing dogs, secondary leaders. Then you have the team dogs making up the next five pairs before the wheel dogs — which Campeau equates to the goaltenders — in front of the sled. Campeau believes every dog plays a key role in a musher's success. He sees parallels with the makeup of the Oilers this spring, especially considering all the injuries they had entering the postseason. 'Everyone had to come in and buy in right away,' Campeau said. 'You needed everyone on the same page. The first two games (against Los Angeles) didn't go as planned, but since that point no one's looked back.' Naturally, McDavid and Leon Draisaitl are most often at the front of the pack, but the Oilers have needed others to step into that role, too. They wouldn't be in the thick of the Stanley Cup Final again if not for Evan Bouchard's heroics late in the first round and subsequent play, or a couple of monster performances from Evander Kane, or Kasperi Kapanen's overtime winner to knock out the Vegas Golden Knights, or Skinner's three shutouts. The way their defense stepped up without Mattias Ekholm — a regular swing dog — was crucial to them winning three rounds. For the last four games, they've been carrying on without winger Zach Hyman, another swing-dog candidate. Advertisement 'It's just like the dogs,' Campeau said. 'If one of your main leaders went down, someone from the back of the team might step up and fill that role. 'If you had one dog that wasn't fully pulling, the team wasn't running efficiently.' Campeau expressed the importance of relying on your teammates during his April conversation with the team. There are times, he said, when he's been racing amid whiteouts and couldn't see a thing, so he'd have to trust his dogs to guide the way for up to 200 miles without him making a single command. 'With the team, it's about trusting that guy beside you and finding a different level,' Campeau said. The Oilers have certainly relied on everyone. They've used 14 forwards and nine defensemen. Twenty of those 23 skaters have scored a goal in the playoffs. Both goaltenders have contributed at least six wins. Knoblauch said Wednesday there will likely be a lineup change for the pivotal Game 4 as the Oilers look to even the series. Whether that's Troy Stecher replacing John Klingberg, Jeff Skinner coming in for the banged-up Ryan Nugent-Hopkins or Calvin Pickard getting the start in net, the team's approach won't change. 'Everyone's got a role to play. It's about everyone,' said winger Trent Frederic, who returned from an ankle injury for the start of the playoffs. 'You've just got to hop in the pack and run with it and pull your part.' They'll be drawing on inspiration from Campeau, whose dog sledding days didn't end after he nearly died in that 2018 race. He wouldn't go out like that. He competed in his third Iditarod the following year. 'I loved the challenge,' Campeau said. 'The harder it got, the more I liked it.' Campeau's dog sledding career is on hiatus right now. He was training a young team to compete a couple of years ago until he suffered another major concussion, the result of a head-on car collision in Southern Alberta. He aims to run Iditarod again, and he plans to win. 'That's life,' he said. 'You face challenges. You're going to get knocked down many times. When you face adversity, you can't let it define you.' Advertisement Campeau has been around the Oilers intermittently throughout the playoffs, depending on his duties at his ranch, located a 30-minute drive west of Rocky Mountain House, Alta. He was in Edmonton for the start of the Final, didn't travel to Florida but will be back in the Alberta capital for Game 5. Maybe, just maybe, he'll be able to witness the Oilers winning the Stanley Cup soon, after his speech sparked their playoff slogan. 'I take pride in being just a small little part, but I love the message,' Campeau said. 'As far as this team goes, you can tell that they're destined. 'I just see the drive and the passion from the top down. It's incredible.' (Top photo of Jason Campeau at 2019 Iditarod: Courtesy of Jason Campeau)
New York Times
an hour ago
- New York Times
Canada Olympic hockey: Projecting the men's First 6, big questions about the rest of the roster
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — As one of the top performers in this Stanley Cup Final, Brad Marchand is obviously dreaming about winning a championship right now. But he also has another important item placed at the top of his list of short-term goals: pulling on a Team Canada sweater at the Winter Olympics in Milan next February. Advertisement 'It's one of the biggest things I think about and that I care about,' Marchand told The Athletic on Wednesday. An impressive playoff run where he's been just a shade under a point-per-game for the Florida Panthers will certainly help his cause. The fact that he's 37 years old and coming off a regular season where he endured some health setbacks will not. As a result, Marchand is not expected to be among the first six players named to the team when Hockey Canada finalizes those selections. The first six roster choices for each participating country could be announced as soon as Monday. However, he's still very much in the mix for a spot on the final 25-man roster, due to be picked by Dec. 31. The Olympic tournament is so prominent in Marchand's mind that he only plans to take a couple of days of rest following the conclusion of this Stanley Cup Final before diving into his offseason training regimen. Never mind that his actual season is going to extend into at least mid-June. Marchand is among the generation of NHLers hurt by the league's decision to pass on participating in the 2018 and 2022 Games because they fell in his prime and were held immediately after he made his best-on-best debut at the 2016 World Cup. 'I feel like we got robbed of going to the last two,' Marchand said. 'It's an opportunity that I never ever thought that I would even come close to having. When you get in the NHL, that's like the pipe dream. That's the be-all or end-all. To be considered for that Olympic team is such a completely different level than anything you could ever really dream of when you're younger. 'So, yeah, when it became a possibility it's one of the things that I strive for. That's one of the things that I think about when I'm training and when things get tough.' Marchand was among the first six players selected by Team Canada last June for the 4 Nations Face-Off. Advertisement However, the veteran winger also went through three separate surgical procedures over the summer to fix issues with his elbow, groin and abdominal area. He missed three months of training as a result and saw a dip in his production to 51 points in 71 games split between the Boston Bruins and the Panthers. Marchand has effectively erased memories of a challenging year with his superlative playoffs, which have included two overtime winners and a series-leading four goals in the Stanley Cup Final. Plus he says there were other mitigating factors — like the fact the Bruins struggled on the power play — that contributed to his offensive dip. 'You go from being a point-a-game guy to 0.75 and it's (viewed as) the end of the world, but there's a lot of different factors that go into that,' Marchand said. 'I never overthought that stuff. I don't get caught up in how the outside world perceives my play or anything like that. It's just about coming in, working hard. If you do the right things long enough sometimes you get the right bounces.' So who would replace Marchand if he's not a member of the first six players announced? Here's our projection. Connor McDavid: Safe to say the guy that scored the McGolden Goal at the 4 Nations will be this team's centerpiece in Italy. Sidney Crosby: Captain Canada will get to play with another roster full of teammates who grew up idolizing him. Nathan MacKinnon: The NHL's third-highest scorer across the past three seasons and the 4 Nations MVP is another easy selection. Brayden Point: A favorite of head coach Jon Cooper highlights what an embarrassment of riches Canada has down the middle. Cale Makar: Fresh off a second career Norris Trophy, Makar is a lock to represent his country for the next decade. Devon Toews: There are multiple attractive options to go with on the final pick, including Sam Reinhart and Mitch Marner, but locking in another defenseman who just happens to be Makar's regular partner in Colorado makes a ton of sense. Pietrangelo was initially named to the 4 Nations roster but wound up missing the tournament to deal with an undisclosed injury and then endured a difficult end to his season with the Vegas Golden Knights. That begs the question: Will the right-shot defenseman's body still allow him to compete at an Olympic level? Advertisement The same thinking applies to Doughty, who was a last-minute injury fill-in at the 4 Nations after missing several months recovering from a broken left ankle. He's a beloved national team player who will need to prove something to management with his play in the opening months of next season. Among the notable younger blueliners knocking at the door for an opportunity behind them? Start with Thomas Harley of the Dallas Stars and Evan Bouchard of the Edmonton Oilers. It's pretty rare for a teenager to get the call from Team Canada, but Celebrini has a legitimate shot after capping an impressive rookie NHL season by hitting it off with Crosby at the IIHF World Hockey Championship. Some of Canada's most impactful hockey voices are already big fans of Celebrini's game – making the only real question 'when' he'll represent the country in best-on-best competition, not 'if' he will. However, the depth of Canadian talent at forward is enviable and management will be cognizant of using the final roster spots to fill specific roles. That Canada will bring 14 forwards to the event is worth noting because it opens the door to the possibility of carrying a younger player as an extra in case of injury or performance needs. Connor Bedard could theoretically be in the mix for that kind of job as well but would need to have a major breakout in the early part of next season for the Chicago Blackhawks. The consternation about the state of Canada's goaltending ended up being overblown because of how well Jordan Binnington played at the 4 Nations, particularly in the championship game against Team USA. We can safely pencil him into the No. 1 job for now with an important caveat that the position is often volatile and unpredictable. Advertisement That means the door remains open for any breakthrough performers in the first three months of the season to grab jobs. That includes Vegas' Adin Hill and Montreal's Samuel Montembeault, who were the Nos. 2 and 3 at the 4 Nations, but also a list that includes Vezina Trophy finalist Darcy Kuemper of the Los Angeles Kings and Logan Thompson, who had a strong year for the Washington Capitals. No matter how it shakes out, there should be fewer hot takes this time around about the challenges Canada is facing in the crease. (Photo of Brad Marchand: Bruce Bennett / Getty Images)
