Lightning's J.J. Moser And Scott Sabourin Suspended For Altercations Against Panthers
Tampa Bay Lightning defenseman J.J. Moser has been suspended for two games for boarding Florida Panthers forward Jesper Boqvist in Saturday's final pre-season game, and Scott Sabourin has been suspended four games for roughing Aaron Ekblad .
Video Transcript
Yeah, I know they have depth and, you know, we were saying they could survive not having Mathias.
You could check, you know, if it's a month or two, you know, that's fine.
They've got so many wingers, but let's face it, Barkov is a sulky winner.
He is, you know, as much as Katchouk is the heartbeat of that team, you know, Barkov is the captain, and he is, you know, in a lot of respects, the best offensive player they have and the best defensive player they have.
So if you're gonna miss him for the whole regular season, it's like the rules have changed, folks.
You're not gonna be able to, you know, pick up the next best UFA.
You're not gonna be able to bring Sidney Crosby onto this team and, you know, have Barkov just roll in on game one of the playoffs.
So this is a huge blow for the Panthers.
And I don't know if it's a, a huge enough blow where they're going to miss the playoffs, but maybe that's sort of gonna be the question: how can they survive not having Ku and not having Barkov, where you've got so many teams, never mind the Leafs and the Lightning.
And the Senators, but you've got the Canadiens, you've got the Red Wings, and maybe even a Buffalo Sabres team that's gonna be pushing for playoff spots.
So, you know, it could be a huge blow for the Panthers.
Ryan, what do you think?
I mean, do you have anything to add or can we kind of move on?
I mean, that's sort of the state of the union, right?
As it stands for Florida.
Yeah, I would say that it's gonna hurt them in the standings, but as long as they get in, they're probably OK. You know, talking to Sam Reinhart at the players' tour in Vegas, he was saying that the culture of this team, the recovery they do, they have faith in everybody in the lineup where even if you're not at your best one night, you know, somebody else will sort of pick up the slack.
And that also takes pressure off everybody, because you say like, oh, well, I don't have to be the man.
I can just go out and play my game.
And that usually ends up with somebody being the man.
You know, sometimes it's Reinhart, sometimes it's Sam Bennett, sometimes it's Anton Lindell.
Uh, also, I would just quickly point out Lucas Dostal, the, Uh, the Anaheim goalie, he was also the players tour.
Uh, trains in Finland in the summer and, and knows Barkov pretty well.
He was saying like if Barkov wanted to, he could have 110 points in a season.
The fact is, he plays his role as a two-way ace because that's what Florida needs.
So it's a really brutal loss for Florida.
It's just a matter of can they get off to a good enough start that they're not chasing all year with both Kachu and Barkov in the lineup.
Yeah, they're kind of weak down the middle.
That's the one, like you look at how strong they are on the wings and I would even argue on defense, they're a strong team, but, you know, who's your number one center now that Barkov's gone?
Is it Sam Bennett?
Does he, is he a number one center in the league and, or is it Anton Lindell, who's, you know, baby Barkov, is he gonna be, you know, thrust in that role?
You know, it could really expose the Panthers for, you know, not having really, um, a number one elite center.
