from John Romano of the Tampa Bay Times,

Game 4 has been put to rest. The ugliness could live on.

It was late in the third period Saturday night and the Lightning were on a power play with a 5-3 lead. Nikita Kucherov and Panthers defenseman Brandon Montour were battling for the puck when Kucherov fell with Montour leaning on his back.

Nothing wrong with that. Just normal hockey aggression.

Except, on his way down, Montour very obviously shifted his stick, put all his weight on Kucherov with both skates off the ice and gave a cross check to the back of the neck that knocked Kucherov’s helmet off.

Two thoughts:

1. Remarkable that game officials decided it was merely a minor penalty.

2. Even more remarkable that the Lightning failed to address it in the final minutes.

Oh, Tampa Bay answered with a 5-on-3 goal that put the score out of reach. And Tanner Jeannot was inserted in the final 93 seconds and picked up two hits and a roughing penalty, but it’s not as if the Lightning sent a strong message warning the Panthers about cheap shots.

And the timing would have been perfect since there was little time remaining and a three-goal lead.

continued

Watch the incident below.