The first two periods were relatively tame as the Lightning hosted the Florida Panthers at Benchmark International Arena on Thursday night. With the Olympics just around the corner, most players seemed to be keeping to themselves, but it wouldn’t be the Battle of Florida without a little chaos. And chaos did come.
Brandon Hagel opened the scoring at 2:08 of the first period, redirecting Victor Hedman’s slap shot from the left point past Daniil Tarasov to give the Lightning a 1–0 lead. Zemgus Girgensons extended the lead to 2–0, beating Tarasov five-hole.
The scoring continued as Jake Guentzel, Erik Cernak, Pontus Holmberg, and Oliver Bjorkstrand all added to the Lightning’s lead, sealing a 6–1 victory. The Lightning aimed for a statement game before the Olympic break, and they found success. For the Panthers, a win was crucial to keep their playoff hopes alive. Florida sits last in the Atlantic Division, 17 points behind Tampa Bay and eight points out of the second wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference.
"It's been incredible, you can gain a lot of confidence off of continuing to win and playing the right way," Hagel said of the Lightning’s success. "A lot of guys in this dressing room stepped up after getting called up. We've had a lot of injuries and we still stayed the course and continued to play the same way. We've put ourselves in a really good spot."
© Kim Klement Neitzel-Imagn ImagesThe key moment came after a line change, when Panthers forward Matthew Tkachuk jumped over the boards, skated to the far side, and leveled Nikita Kucherov with a shoulder check. Hagel didn’t take the situation lightly, ripping off his gloves and skating toward Tkachuk, landing punches and pulling his jersey off, leaving Tkachuk skating away with his shoulder pads dangling and the crowd on their feet.
“Listen, Nikita Kucherov’s our best player. He just continues to do incredible things. Probably stay away from him,” Hagel said after the game.
As a result of the brawl, thirteen penalties were handed out. Guentzel and Kucherov each received 10-minute misconducts, while the remaining penalties were two-minute minors. Florida head coach Paul Maurice was assessed a game misconduct as well and replaced on the bench by assistant coach Jamie Kompon.
“There’s rivalries..,” Hagel said. “There’s a little bit something different to it. I can’t even pinpoint what exactly it is, but it’s just been going on. And it’s good. It builds character in this dressing room. It brings a team closer together.”
All six Lightning goal-scorers will play in the 2026 Olympic Winter Games in Milano Cortina, which begin Feb. 11, with coach Jon Cooper serving as head coach of Team Canada.
"I can't thank my coaching staff enough for how much they've helped out with everything to allow me to have time to do other things and work with Team Canada,” said Cooper. “This is the chance of a lifetime. I'm going to go over there and give it my all and enjoy every minute of it."
The Lightning (37-14-4, 78 points) are now 19-1-1 in their last 21 games.