Lightning Hold Off Panthers in Battle of Florida

SUNRISE, Fla. — You know what you’re getting with the Battle of Florida.

Highly skilled players on both sides. Two future Hall of Fame goalies. Two future Hall of Fame Coaches.

And the most obvious — two teams that hate each other.

There were 136 total penalty minutes between the sides: 87 for Tampa and 49 for Florida. It wasn’t a surprise given the history between the in-state rivals.

“It’s fun,” Panthers forward Mackie Samoskevich said of the Battle of Florida. “We hate each other… anytime you play a team in the playoffs, it’s always a good rivalry and always a little chippy.”

Nikita Kucherov scored Tampa Bay’s final two goals of the game as the Lightning held on to defeat the Florida Panthers 4-2 at Amerant Bank Arena.

Andrei Vasilevskiy had 24 saves in the win and Tampa improved to 21-13-3 in the win.

Sergei Bobrovsky allowed three goals in 24 shots on the other side and Florida fell to 20-15-2 with the loss.

Eetu Luostarinen opened the scoring 5:37 into the first period with his fourth goal of the season after he swatted a backhander in front of the Lightning net past Andrei Vasilevskiy to put the Panthers up 1-0.

Tampa tied the game with 6:55 remaining in the first after Jake Guentzel rifled a short-handed breakaway shot past Sergei Bobrovsky for his team-leading 18th goal of the season.

On the same penalty kill, Lightning forward Anthony Cirelli broke free for another breakaway, before he was held and spun into Bobrovsky by Aaron Ekblad. The puck found its way into the Panthers net, but the goal was quickly overturned after replay determined that Cirelli put the puck in with his hand. Ekblad was called for a holding penalty, but the score remained 1-1 after a successful Panthers kill.

As time was expiring in the opening frame, Pontus Holmberg gave Tampa a 2-1 lead with 7.3 seconds left in the period, beating Bobrovsky glove-side for his fifth goal of the season.

The start of the second was much like the end of the first for Tampa. Off a 2-on-1, Nikita Kucherov received a feed from Brayden Point and slid a backhander past Bobrovsky for his 14th goal of the season, putting the Lightning ahead 3-1 just 2:31 into the period.

“I thought the first half of the game we looked like we hadn’t touched a puck in a while,” Panthers head coach Paul Maurice said of his team’s play in their first game back from the holiday break. “The power-play went from struggling pretty good to having all the chances you can want on a power-play.”

Brad Marchand got the Panthers back to within one after he buried his team-leading 21st goal of the season 7:05 into the period with a power-play goal. Florida executed the man-advantage flawlessly, scoring in just six seconds with a beautiful tic-tac-toe play.

Kucherov ended hopes of a Panthers comeback with 55 seconds left in regulation, putting away an empty netter for his second goal of the night, and 15th on the season.

What’s Next?

The Panthers will be back on Monday, Dec 29 at Amerant Bank Arena to take on the Washington Capitals for the first half of a back-to-back. Puck drop is set for 7 p.m.

They’ll face the Montreal Canadiens the day after on Dec 30, with puck drop at the same time.