The Tampa Bay Lightning visited the Florida Panthers for their final trip to Sunrise of the season (the regular season at least), on Saturday night. In the two previous matchups, the away team had come out victorious on both occasions, a trend the Lightning would have certainly loved to continue. One trend that wouldn’t continue was Brandon Hagel’s streak of getting hit in the head by the Panthers, which had occurred three games in a row, as he remained out of the Lightning lineup due to injury. It didn’t take long for the game to get chippy, as Yanni Gourde and Sam Bennett went after each other three and a half minutes into the game. Both Bennett and Gourde were given double minor penalties for their role in the scrum, but Zemgus Girgensons was also called for cross-checking, giving Florida an early power play opportunity. The Lightning would kill off the penalty without allowing a shot, but moments after the penalty expired Eetu Luostarinen was able to put the puck past Andrei Vasilevskiy, making it 1-0 for the home team with Florida’s first shot on goal. The Lightning quickly applied pressure as they looked for an equalizer on the rush, as Brayden Point forced Sergei Bobrovsky to make a tough save. Then on the ensuing play, AJ Greer gave the Lightning their first power play opportunity after he was penalized for tripping. Darren Raddysh hit the post early in the man advantage, but nothing else came of the power play as the Panthers killed it off. Steven Santini was penalized for cross-checking with 7:11 remaining in the first period, giving the Panthers their second power play of the opening frame. Just 16 seconds into the penalty, Jake Guentzel created a breakaway for himself and put the puck behind Bobrovsky, tying the game at 1-1 with a shorthanded goal. Cirelli created a breakaway of his own a minute later, drawing a penalty that nullified the Panthers’ power play. He fought through the contact and seemingly scored the second shorthanded goal of the penalty, but after a review, it was determined he put the puck in the net with his hand resulting in no goal. The Lightning did get an abbreviated power play due to Aaron Ekblad’s penalty, though, which was killed off by Florida. The Lightning would take the lead before the end of the period though, as Pontus Holmberg got his fifth of the year with 7.3 seconds remaining on the clock, making it 2-1. There was a minor scrum at center ice as the intermission began, but nothing came of it. Nikita Kucherov extended the Lightning’s lead two and a half minutes into the second period when he snuck the puck past his countryman Bobrovsky. Oliver Bjorkstrand drew a penalty as he was taken down by Mackie Samoskevich at the blue line, giving the Lightning their third power play opportunity. Curtis Douglas and Luke Kunin dropped the gloves with 13 minutes remaining in the second period. The altercation seemed inevitable, as Kunin had been in the middle of seemingly every scrum in the game up to that point. Douglas got an additional two minutes for roughing, and Florida took advantage of the power play quickly. Right off of the faceoff the Panthers pulled off a very nice passing play which left Brad Marchand wide open in an abundance of space. He scored his 21st goal of the season, reducing the Lightning’s lead to just a single goal. Off of the following faceoff, Vasilevskiy was quickly tested again and had to make a couple of big saves to maintain that lead. Just past the midway point of the period, Ekblad was sent back to the penalty box for interference. For the fourth time of the night, the Panthers killed off the penalty. Tempers flared with a minute and a half remaining in the second period after Guentzel threw a hit on Greer. As Guentzel was escorted to the penalty box, things exploded on the ice. All five skaters on the ice for Tampa Bay were sent to the penalty box, while Florida had three players penalized. After a considerable amount of time spent sorting everything out, the Panthers got a power play. After a minute and a half of the penalty was killed off, the Lightning carried a 3-2 lead into the second intermission. Scott Sabourin took a big hit early in the third period which created another mess for the referees to sort out. Raddysh was escorted to the penalty box after Sabourin before being released without a penalty. Sabourin was called for roughing and a slash on Niko Mikkola following the hit and was also given a ten-minute misconduct for his role in the chaos. As a result, the Panthers received a four-minute power play. Luostarinen nearly tied the game for Florida, but his deflection went just over the crossbar a few seconds before the first penalty expired. Vasilevskiy made a big save as the Panthers applied massive pressure, then seconds later, the puck hit the inside of the goal post. The Lightning killed off the penalty, but the second it ended, Max Crozier was called for high-sticking. Fortunately for the Lightning, they were able to once again kill off the penalty to maintain their lead. Kucherov threw a massive hit on Mikkola immediately before he drew a slashing penalty, giving the Lightning another chance on the power play. During the power play, Raddysh collided with Marchand. Following the collision, Raddysh went straight off the ice and down the tunnel. Then, Bjorkstrand took a slashing penalty to nullify the remainder of the power play and gave the Panthers an abbreviated power play. On the bright side, it didn’t take long for Raddysh to return to the Lightning bench, as he was back a few minutes after his uncomfortable hit. Bennett then threw a hit from behind on Crozier which resulted in a boarding call. With a minute and a half remaining, the Panthers pulled Bobrovsky for the extra attacker. With 55 seconds remaining, Kucherov put the game away with an empty-net goal, making it 4-2. The Lightning will be back in action tomorrow, this time at home, as they host the Montreal Canadiens in a matinee matchup.
