RECAP: Lightning 5, Panthers 2

TAMPA – Even in the preseason, the Battle of Florida is, well, a battle.

In a game that featured a whopping 186 combined penalty minutes, the Florida Panthers suffered a 5-2 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning at Benchmark International Arena on Thursday.

“Just some old friends getting reacquainted,” head coach Paul Maurice said. “There’s a lot of passion and leftover memories that go into those games. I don’t know if I can assess the game. It happens. That’s usually a good time to get the cobwebs out.”

As always, the Battle of Florida got physical early.

The first of a few feisty altercations in the first period between the two bitter in-state rivals, A.J. Greer ignited a brawl when he took a piece out of Lightning forward Brandon Hagel.

On the penalty kill for much of the first period, the Panthers still managed to break the ice despite the whistles not blowing in their favor.

After beating Lightning goaltender Brandon Halverson to a loose puck, Eetu Luostarinen fired a shot into the abandoned net to make it 1-0 with a shorthanded goal at 11:52.

On a later power play, the Lightning finally managed to sneak the puck past a dynamic Daniil Tarasov when Jake Guentzel finished off a give-and-go with Nikita Kucherov to make it 1-1 at 19:19.

In the zone out of the gate, Tarasov made 18 saves in the first period.

“Oh man was he good,” Maurice said of Tarasov, who finished 28 saves. “On the scrambles, he just made a bunch of incredible saves. I don’t know if you’re going to see the same shots that we gave up very often in a game, but he was really good. Really happy with his fight.”

Putting the Panthers on top just 57 seconds into the second period, Seth Jones threaded a point shot on the power play past Halverson, who was blinded by a screen from Brad Marchand, to make it 2-1.

With the fists continuing to fly, Greer dropped the gloves with Taylor Raddysh just 5:11 into the second period. Less than three minutes later, following a cross-check from Lightning defenseman JJ Moser on Anton Lundell, the bad blood spilled over once again.

Not long after that, Lundell left the game and did not return.

“Upper body,” Maurice said of the young Finn. “He’ll get looked at tomorrow.”

At 11:17, Jonah Gadjovich went toe to toe with Tampa Bay defenseman Declan Carlile.

Overall, there were 23 separate penalties assessed during the second period.

Evening the score for the Lightning late in the middle frame, Brayden Point finished off an odd-man rush by sliding the puck past a sprawled-out Tarasov to make it 2-2 at 18:55.

Giving the Lightning the lead on the power play, Guentzel found the back of the net again, this time burying a far-side snipe from the right circle to make it 3-2 at 1:05. Freeing up the lane for Guentzel, Kucherov got away with an interference on Gustav Forsling at the blue line.

Extending Tampa Bay’s lead to 4-2 on a delayed penalty, Conor Geekie spun around a defender before ripping a shot past Tarasov at 6:27. Tacking on another for the home team, Anthony Cirelli got behind the defense and scored on a breakaway to make it 5-2 at 15:11.

With 3:05 left in regulation, Luke Kunin fought Lightning forward Yanni Gourde.

At the same time, Aaron Ekblad grappled with Tampa Bay forward Mitchell Chaffee.

“It was evident out there,” forward Evan Rodrigues said when asked about the lack of affection between the rival clubs. “They weren’t too happy. They came out and played a playoff-style game it seemed like. I think it was good for our team to get us in the mix.”

With one game left until the Panthers raise their second straight Stanley Cup banner against the Chicago Blackhawks on Oct. 7, the back-to-back champs will close out the preseason with a rematch against the Lightning at Amerant Bank Arena on Saturday.

When asked about what’d he like to see in the game, Maurice made a simple request.

"A little 5-on-5 play would be good,” he said.