The preseason continued for the Florida Panthers on Thursday night in Tampa, but it felt very different than any of the Cats’ previous exhibition games.
That’s because for the first time, Panthers Head Coach Paul Maurice dressed a lineup made up of only NHL regulars.
It was that roster, which could very well end up looking the same for Opening Night (minus Sergei Bobrovsky, who did not dress on Thursday), that faced off against the Tampa Bay Lightning at Amalie Arena.
Considering the familiarity between the two teams, it comes as no surprise that the first period was full of contentious play and penalties, with the Cats and Bolts combining for 30 PIMs.
Nearly half of those belonged to A.J. Greer after he picked up a double minor for roughing Tampa’s Darren Raddysh along with a ten-minute misconduct.
With just over eight minutes left in the period and Florida once again shorthanded, Eetu Luostarinen beat two Tampa players to the puck just inside the Lightning blue line, and since one of those players was goaltender Brandon Halverson, it left Eetu with a wide-open net to fire the puck into, giving the Cats a 1-0 lead.
Yet another Tampa Bay power play, their fourth of the period, led to Jake Guentzel finishing off a give-and-go with Nikita Kucherov to tie the game at one during the final minute of the first period.
Those 30 first period penalty minutes turned out to be only an appetizer because the Cats and Bolts took things completely off the rails during the middle frame.
A minor penalty nine seconds into the period by Tampa’s Dominic James set the stage for a Seth Jones power play goal that appeared to deflect off Brad Marchand in front, but was ultimately awarded to the defenseman, to give Florida a 2-1 lead.
From there, the parade to the penalty box was fast and furious.
Another 82 penalty minutes were handed out, including three misconducts, as the two inner-state rivals seemed to forget that they were only playing in a preseason game.
The night’s first even-strength goal came late in the period when Brayden Point finished off a failed 2-on-1 by picking up the puck in the slot while Cats’ goaltender Daniil Tarasov was out of position at the side of the crease.
Arrival of the third period brought more penalties and extracurricular activities, but it also led to a pair of Tampa goals that gave the home squad a 4-2 lead before the first commercial break.
When all was said and done, a total of 186 penalty minutes were called and Tampa came away with a 5-2 win.
One thing to keep an eye on after the game is the status of Anton Lundell, who did not come out after the second intermission.
Tampa Bay and Florida wrap up their respective preseasons on Saturday night when they face off one more time in Sunrise.
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Photo caption: Oct 2, 2025; Tampa, Florida, USA; the Tampa Bay Lightning and Florida Panthers break out in a fight in the second period at Benchmark International Arena. (Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images)
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