Paul Maurice Takes a Jab at the Tampa Bay Lightning for Disgraceful Hit on Barkov

Paul Maurice must be happy with his team right now as they appear to be coming back right where they left off in the playoffs last season.

His club has a commanding 2-0 series lead over the Tampa Bay Lightning and have outscored their cross-state rivals 8-2 in the series.

The defending Stanley Cup champions appear to be serious about winning their second Cup in a row, which would also be their third straight finals appearance.

Despite the early lead though, this series had not been without controversy.

Panthers captain Alexander Barkov was shaken up in game two after he took a bad hit from Lightning forward Brandon Hagel, who was given a major penalty for interference on the play.

Today, Panthers head coach Paul Maurice took a shot at the lightning as he called the whole team out for the dirty play, saying his players 'only hit the guys with the puck.'

This is not the only controversy of the playoffs so far as we also got some drama during game three of the Battle of Ontario.

The Maple Leafs took a stranglehold on the series yesterday with another overtime victory to go up 3-0 on the Senators, but things got spicy before the game even started.

Senators enforcer Nick Cousins got into a jousting match during warmups before the game even started, which resulted in him getting a 2000 dollar fine.

As a result, both series could continue to get ugly as the drama and tension only builds throughout the playoffs.

Be sure to tune in tonight to see what happens during our next slate of games.