RECAP: Lightning 4, Panthers 2

SUNRISE, Fla. – The battle wages on.

Penning another chapter in the ever-intensifying “Battle of Florida,” the Florida Panthers suffered a 4-2 loss to the rival Tampa Bay Lightning at Amerant Bank Arena on Saturday.

In a game that featured 136 combined penalty minutes, 87 belonged to the Lightning.

With the loss, the Panthers, who are 7-3-0 in their last 10 games, now sit at 20-15-2.

“It’s fun,” forward Mackie Samoskevich said of the in-state rivalry. “We both hate each other, obviously with the past. Any time you play each other in the playoffs, it’s always a good rivalry and a little chippy. We play them a bunch, and it’s always a good game.”

Shortly after their power play had expired, the second unit still managed to get the job done for the Panthers during their extended stay on the ice when Eetu Luostarinen whacked a bouncing puck in the slot past Andrei Vasilevsky to make it 1-0 at 5:37 of the first period.

Out the last two games with an injury, Samoskevich recorded the primary assist.

"I'm feeling good," the young winger said.

Set free on the penalty kill, Jake Guentzel evened the score for the Lightning when he beat Sergei Bobrovsky with a shorthanded snipe form the left circle to make it 1-1 at 13:05.

On the same penalty kill, Anthony Cirelli almost netted another shorthanded goal when he crashed into the net and the puck went with him, but the goal came off the board following a brief review that showed the Lightning forward hit the puck across the line with his glove.

Giving the Lightning the lead just before the first intermission, Pontus Holmberg buried a shot from the right circle to make it 2-1 with just 7.3 seconds remaining on the clock.

In the second period, the Lightning gave themselves a two-goal cushion when Nikita Kucherov finished off a quick 2-on-1 rush with Brayden Point to make it 3-1 at 2:31.

“I thought in the first half of the game we looked liked we hadn’t touched a puck in a while,” head coach Paul Maurice said of the Panthers shaking off some rust after the holiday break. “We were slow with it. Didn’t love that."

Providing the Panthers with a spark, Luke Kunin dropped the gloves with Lightning forward Curtis Douglas. Despite Douglas being listed as nine inches taller, Kunin got the take down and brought the fans in the arena back up to their feet.

“Kunny taking that fight was huge for us,” defenseman Gustav Forsling said.

On the power play that followed that fight, the Panthers rewarded Kunin for his bravery by cutting their deficit to just one goal when Brad Marchand finished off a tic-tac-toe passing sequence by sending a slick dish from Sam Bennett past Vasilevskiy to make it 3-2 at 7:05.

With 1:30 left in the middle frame, bad blood boiled over when Guentzel delivered a punch to A.J. Greer’s head. Following the ensuing whistle, Cirelli delivered a cross-check to Greer’s ribs that ushered in a multi-player brawl between both teams.

In the third period, the Lightning crossed the line once again when Scott Sabourin, who seems to always get called up from the AHL to face the Panthers, unleashed an egregious slash on Niko Mikkola before trying to throw down with Forsling.

For the incident, Sabourin received 14 total penalty minutes.

Even with all the stops and starts, the Panthers said they weren’t bothered by the whistles.

“We’re kind of used to that with these guys. I don’t think it affected the flow,” Maurice said. “There really isn’t any feel-good flow when the two teams play against [each other], and not a lot of that in the first game after the break.”

Despite earning a four-minute power play, the Panthers couldn’t find the equalizer with the man advantage following the penalty on Sabourin. Sent right back to the power play after a high stick against the Lightning right after, they unfortunately came up empty once again.

From there, the Panthers continued to come close but couldn’t tie things up.

Overall, they finished 1-for-10 on the power play despite racking up 16 scoring chances, per NaturalStatTrick.com.

Of Vasilevskiy’s 24 saves, nine came on the penalty kill for the Lightning.

“I thought we did a good job, honestly,” Samoskevich said of the execution with the extra attacker. “We had a ton of chances, a ton of zone time. I think just perfecting that zone time is going to be the key to moving on. I thought it was pretty good and we had good chances.”

With 55.6 seconds left, Kucherov extended Tampa Bay’s lead to 4-2 with an empty-net goal.

THEY SAID IT

“Learn from something every game, win or lose. I think, especially when we lose, it always seems to get us better.” – Mackie Samoskevich

“He (Luke Kunin) gives it everything every shift. He gives his whole heart out there. That fires up the rest of the team.” – Gustav Forsling

"Good on him (Luke Kunin). That's a different tale of the tape there, but not of the heart. Good for him." – Paul Maurice

CATS STATS

- Brad Marchand extended his point streak to seven games.

- Eetu Luostarinen recorded a team-high six hits.

- Seth Jones blocked a team-high three shots.

- Florida led 4.53-2.94 in expected goals, per NaturalStatTrick.com.

WHAT’S NEXT?

The Panthers will return to the ice and kick off a back-to-back with a matchup against Alex Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals at Amerant Bank Arena on Monday at 7 p.m. ET.

For tickets, click HERE.