The Tampa Bay Lightning faced off against their cross-state rivals, the Florida Panthers, on Tuesday night at the Kia Center in Orlando.
With a 3-2 win, the Lightning improved to a perfect 5-0-0 in preseason play.
“It just goes to show you, people love the game,” Jon Cooper said of the crowd. “So the fact that the two NHL teams can leave their cities and go and spread the joy of the game around does nothing but help, and I know the guys enjoy it, so it’s great, and Orlando has been a heck of a host in all the years that I've done it.”
Oliver Bjorkstrand opened the scoring, capitalizing on a shot from defenseman Darren Raddysh. Florida answered just 5:15 before the end of the first period.
"It's fun when these games kind of go back and forth, one-goal games, and you get to see the gamesmanship of players on both teams,” said Cooper. "Both teams gave it their all trying to win. You like to see these guys in those kinds of pressure moments and situations."
The Lightning went on to score in the second period with a pair of goals just 28 seconds apart. Conor Geekie chased down a loose puck in the offensive zone and scored at the 11-minute mark to give Tampa Bay a 2-1 lead.
Moments later, Jakob Pelletier redirected a Max Crozier pass into the net for his second goal of the preseason.
“I think it's the kind of culture that we have here,” Crozier said of the players supporting each other. “The organization did a great job bringing in phenomenal guys, it's a competitive camp. We’re all fighting for spots, but we're all fighting with each other here. We want to win at the end of the day. Obviously, everyone wants to be in the lineup. We want the organization to win, and that’s the most important thing.”
Florida struck early in the third to cut the deficit, but the Lightning held on to secure a 3-2 win. The two teams will meet again on Thursday at 7pm.