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Paul Maurice Names Game 5 Replacement After Key Player Injured by Brutal Leafs Hit

Originally posted on Blade of Steel | By Tom Banks | Last updated May 14, 2025 1:31 PM ET

The Panthers-Maple Leafs series has been a war thus far, and after going down with an injury on a late hit, Evan Rodrigues will miss Game 5 as a result.

The Florida Panthers and Toronto Maple Leafs have been battling hard through four games, and while there's been no big suspensions handed out, both teams have been guilty of throwing some massive hits, both dirty and clean.

In Game 4, there were bad hits from both sides, with the Panthers dealing with several injuries as a result , and while Aleksander Barkov will return for Game 5, the same can't be said for Evan Rodrigues following this hit from Oliver Ekman-Larsson, which also followed up the hit earlier in the series that saw him leave the ice and get called for embellishment.

As a result of this hit, Head Coach Paul Maurice has revealed that Jesper Boqvist will come in for Game 5, as Rodrigues still isn't recovered enough from the interference call that some believed was worthy of more punishment for OEL.

Following the announcement, some Maple Leafs fans have made a joke of the officials embellishment call on Rodrigues earlier in the series, while others have resorted to calling it karma given the way that Florida have targeted Toronto's heads in this series.

At the end of the day, this is how Stanley Cup Playoffs hockey goes, as there is so much physicality and intensity between two teams, and while it's unfortunate that Rodrigues will miss this game, he's not the only one to miss time in this series as a result of all the physicality that has been involved.

This article first appeared on Blade of Steel and was syndicated with permission.

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