NHL Department of Player Safety Officially Rules on Matthew Tkachuk's Ejection Hit

Florida Panthers forward Matthew Tkachuk has learned his fate after being assessed a 5-minute major penalty for his late hit against Tampa Bay Lightning forward Jake Guentzel in Game 3 of their Round 1 series.

Per NHL analyst Elliotte Friedman, Tkachuk will face zero discipline from the NHL Department of Player Safety and is fully eligible to participate in Game 4.

Tkachuk leveled Guentzel in the 3rd period of Saturday's Game 3 of their opening round series with a late hit; Guentzel had just fed teammate Anthony Cirelli, who was making a beeline toward Florida's open net and would score to put the game out of reach.

Lightning coach Jon Cooper, who is the longest tenured bench boss in the NHL today, took a swipe at Panthers coach Paul Maurice with his reaction to Tkachuk's hit on Guentzel.

Cooper used Maurice's own words against him when talking about the incident:

It was the same comment that Maurice made when talking about Tampa's Brandon Hagel leveling Aleksander Barkov in Game 2, which resulted in a 1-game suspension for Hagel.