SUNRISE, Fla. – Sometimes even a rivalry can’t spice up a preseason game.
Keeping the physicality to a minimum in a game that didn’t really mean much, the Florida Panthers suffered a 3-1 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning at Amerant Bank Arena on Monday.
Looking to be healthy for Game 1, the Panthers don’t plan to go overboard in exhibitions.
“It was a no-hitter out there,” head coach Paul Maurice said. “We had three or four light, light minor penalties. You’re not really assessing in these games. You’ll find as the closer you get to the end of them there tends to be less and less contact in the game. Certainly, you’ve all seen us play enough hockey to know that that’s a requisite part of our game.”
The last home game of the preseason, the Panthers won’t take the ice in Sunrise again until they raise their Stanley Cup banner on Opening Night against the Boston Bruins on Oct. 7.
“It can’t come soon enough, especially after the short summer,” forward Sam Bennett said. “It’s nice to get back into playing the games that matter again. I’m looking forward to those games.”
Opening the scoring for the Lightning, Emil Lilleberg fired a slap shot from below the blue that kept rising until it found the top of the twine to make it 1-0 at 13:19 of the first period.
The Panthers applied much of the pressure in the first 20 minutes, leading 9-6 in shots.
In the second period, the Panthers continued to come close to lighting the lamp but couldn’t slip the puck past Lightning goaltender Jonas Johansson. After a strong showing in which he stopped 10 of 11 shots, Sergei Bobrovsky was relieved in the crease by Spencer Knight.
After Knight made the initial stop on a 2-on-1 rush, Gage Gonsalves, who led Tampa Bay’s AHL affiliate with 58 points in 2023-24, cashed in on the rebound to make it 2-0 at 11:40.
Suffering an apparent injury, Evan Rodrigues missed much of the second period for the Panthers. Preparing for his second season in South Florida, the 31-year-old forward played an integral role in 2023-24, including scoring a team-high four goals in the Stanley Cup Final.
Thankfully, “E-Rod” appears to be OK.
"I think in a regular-season game he would've returned,” Maurice said. “It's just precautionary. He just got a little bump. I don't know if we'll play him on Wednesday, but he'll be ready to go."
Getting the Panthers on the board in the third period, Sam Reinhart tipped in a shot from Carter Verhaeghe on the power play to cut the deficit to 2-1 at 15:26. A familiar sight for the fans in the stands, Reinhart led the NHL with a whopping 27 power-play goals last season.
