Panthers' Rowe calls Dumont's hit on Ekblad 'a real cheap shot'

Tom Rowe wasn't thrilled about Gabriel Dumont's concussive check on Aaron Ekblad.

"I thought the hit on Ekblad was dangerous," the Florida Panthers head coach told reporters after Saturday's loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning, via One Panther Parkway.

"We'll leave that up to the league to review it and see what they think of it, but when you lose three guys - two to concussions - Ekblad, which I thought was a real cheap shot from behind, but the league does a great job of reviewing those (hits), and we'll just wait for their judgement."

Here's another look at the hit in question:

Ekblad suffered the third concussion of his young career on the play, and teammate Denis Malgin also sustained one moments later on a hit from Lightning defenseman Anton Stralman that Rowe didn't take issue with.

"No problem with that one whatsoever," Rowe said.

The head coach added that he spoke to the officiating supervisor about the Ekblad hit, for which Dumont wasn't penalized.

The Panthers' loss was their fifth straight, and eighth in their last nine games.