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Florida Panthers<\/a> center Eetu Luostarinen<\/a> was ejected from Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Finals on Saturday night after delivering a hit from behind on Carolina Hurricanes forward Jackson Blake.<\/p>\n The incident occurred at 16:59 of the first period as both players raced for a loose puck. Blake seemed to ease up slightly before hitting the boards, but Luostarinen maintained his momentum, delivering a hit to send Blake head-first into the boards.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/template><\/p>\n Blake was down on the ice in pain before skating on his own with a visible cut on his nose. Luostarinen received a 5-minute major penalty and game misconduct for boarding.<\/p>\n Speaking during the “NHL on TNT” intermission show, analysts Paul Bissonnette and Chris Chelios weighed in on the play. Bissonnette did not believe Luostarinen had malicious intent, saying<\/p>\n “I don’t think there was malicious intent going into that. I think he was going stick on stick and not cause that type of damage …. No malicious intent … “<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Chelios agreed it was likely, not intentional, calling it,<\/p>\n “a bang bang play, it’s unfortunate.” He added. “If [Blake] doesn’t come back it’s a good call, if he does, I don’t know. He took a pretty good shot.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Blake returned to the ice for the second period, while Eetu Luostarinen finished the game with just 3:30 of ice time. He has been an important piece of Florida’s playoff run so far, with 4 goals and 13 points over 14 postseason games.<\/p>\n On Sportsnet, former NHL defenseman Kevin Bieksa shared his opinion on the play that resulted in Florida Panthers forward Eetu Luostarinen getting ejected from the game.<\/p>\n Bieksa said that it was the right call. He explained,<\/p>\n \u201cTypically it’s a D-man going back for these pucks ….. But, Blake does a good job. A couple head fakes going back for this and then he actually braces for contact.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Bieksa added that Blake could have done better to get closer to the boards before bracing for impact, which would have reduced the gap and possibly softened the hit.<\/p>\n At the midway point of the third period, the Panthers led the Hurricanes 6-1. Florida got goals from Niko Mikkola (two goals), Jesper Boqvist, Brad Marchand<\/a>, Evan Rodrigues and Aleksander Barkov. Evan Rodrigues also scored for the Panthers, while Logan Stankoven had the lone goal for Carolina.<\/p>\nKevin Bieksa delivers his opinion on Jackson Blake’s positioning on the play that got Eetu Luostarinen ejected<\/h2>\n