The Panthers and Lightning will meet again on Thursday in Tampa and Saturday in Sunrise to wrap up the preseason
NHL Hockey was back in Orlando on Tuesday night as the Florida Panthers took on the Tampa Bay Lightning for their preseason clash in Central Florida.
The Lightning, led by goaltender Jonas Johansson, kept a clean sheet and defeated the Panthers 2-0.
This was the fourth time that these two teams have met in a neutral site game in Orlando. Other instances were on Sept. 19th, 1996, Sept. 27th, 2018, and Oct. 5th, 2021.
These teams met again for their first of three to close out the preseason. Florida is in the home stretch of making some tough decisions when it comes to who makes the 23-man roster prior to taking on the Minnesota Wild on Oct. 12 in St. Paul.
The Panthers were without their captain Aleksander Barkov as he is recovering from an illness. During warmups, Kevin Stenlund was centering the top line with Carter Verhaeghe and Evan Rodrigues on the wings. Paul Maurice said that he could be back in the lineup as soon as Saturday when the Panthers host Tampa Bay at Amerant Bank Arena.
Maurice last weekend said that the last three preseason games will be more of an NHL ready lineup. Florida 2021 first-round pick Mackie Samoskevich was on the second line with Sam Bennett and Matthew Tkachuk, so he sure is getting his opportunity to make the opening night roster.
Samoskevich, during morning skate from the Panthers Ice Den in Coral Springs, was working on power play two, with Bennett taking Barkov’s spot on the top unit. Opportunity is there for the 20-year-old out of the University of Michigan.
Both teams were trading chances early as Nick Cousins tried to catch Johansson off guard on a shift change, shooting from the blue line, and tried following up on a rebound, but could not connect.
Samoskevich, on a breakout, had the puck stripped from him early on, leading to a wraparound attempt by Lightning Forward Brandon Hagel, but Sergei Bobrovsky bailed out the rookie.
Tampa Bay did get the first goal of the game while on the power play when Dmitry Kulikov went to the box for slashing. With some crisp passing by the Lightning, Tyler Motte found Tanner Jeannot right on the doorstep and he redirected Motte’s feed to make it 1-0 Tampa.
Later in the first, Samoskevich had a wraparound of his own as defenseman Hayden Fleury underestimated the young forward's speed and edge work.
There were early signs of the bad blood that exists in this Sunshine State rivalry as Ryan Lomberg and Austin Watson each were given 10-minute misconducts. Erik Cernak and Sam Bennett were also given 10-minute misconducts in the middle frame.
The Panthers power play had two opportunities early, but Tampa Bay was able to get bodies in front of pucks on both of Florida’s chances with the man advantage.
The Panthers came out in the second period attacking as Verhaeghe got the puck from the left wing half wall to the doorstep, where Kevin Stenlund was waiting.
The Lightning had a chance to make it a 2-0 lead with the Panthers attempting to break up a rush in the neutral zone, with the puck finding Hagel for a breakaway, but Bobrovsky was able to make the stop.
Due to a broken glass panel in the corner, with 4:12 left in the 2nd , they decided to conduct the intermission then. Prior to that, the Panthers power play (despite being 0-for-5 through almost 40 minutes) was starting to move the puck better.
Many times we saw them get the puck to Tkachuk’s sweet spot, behind the net, where he attempted to thread the needle to find Sam Reinhart in the bumper spot.
Tkachuk also had two chances on the same power play, when Ekman-Larsson fed the 2023 Hart Trophy finalist from the blue line and Tkachuk was able to get his own rebound, but Johansson again came up with the stop. Tkachuk would also get another opportunity on a juicy rebound by Johansson on a shot from the high slot by Evan Rodrigues.
Another player that was active on both ends of the ice was forward Bennett. Nick Paul from the left wing half wall attempted a centering feed to Hagel in front, and Bobrovsky looked to have shifted to his left late, but Bennett was there to break up the feed to keep it at 1-0 Tampa Bay.
Through five minutes in the third, both teams combined for two shots on goal, the middle of the ice was more protected on both ends.
The haymakers continued as Niko Mikkola and Tanner Jeannot each went to the box for fighting at the 5:37 mark.
The Panthers were troubled by penalties in the third period, and while four on four, Gustav Forsling went to the box for crosschecking.
The Lightning had a lot of open ice to work with but they ended up not getting on the score sheet.
Later in the period, 35 seconds into a penalty kill with Ekman-Larsson off for crosschecking, Stenlund went to the box for a trip in the neutral zone.
Despite Bobrovsky standing tall early in the 5-on-3, the Lightning eventually cashed in. From the blue line, Alex Barre-Boulet fed the puck to Paul on the doorstep, and he redirected it home to make it a 2-0 lead for Tampa Bay.
The misconducts continued as Anton Lundell, Mike Reilly and Tkachuk were sent to the locker rooms with less than five minutes to go, while Waltteri Merela, Calvin De Haan and Jeannot were all sent off for Tampa Bay.
The Bolts would end up getting a power play with Lundell committing a minor penalty.
Outside of the actual game on the ice, these two teams in their first meeting (regular season or preseason) wanted to set the tone early. The logic is, get this out of the way when the game results do not matter, which is what we saw with multiple misconducts, fights, and unsportsmanlike conducts.
Johansson got the shutout with a 22-save performance, while Bobrovsky’s only goals against came on special teams, resulting in a 2-0 Lightning win.
Bobrovsky is going on start one of the last two games of the preseason, which we do not know at this point in time.
The Panthers will return to the ice in game action as they will take on these same Tampa Bay Lightning on Thursday from Amalie Arena in Tampa before returning home on Saturday for their preseason finale at Amerant Bank Arena.