Photo credit: Jeff Romance-Imagn Images
Florida Panthers, Tampa Bay Lightning, and a messy power play defined Saturday in Sunrise, with Mackie Samoskevich right in the middle.
It ended 4-2 for Tampa Bay at Amerant Bank Arena, and Florida walked away with the kind of frustration you only get in this rivalry. The Panthers are now 20-15-2 after winning five of their previous six.
«Learn from something every game, win or lose. I think, especially when we lose, it always seems to get us better.» - Mackie Samoskevich
The Panthers started on script when Eetu Luostarinen poked home a loose puck at 5:37 of the first period. Two careless touches through the neutral zone later, Tampa got back-to-back breakaways and flipped the game before intermission.
The penalties were a story all on their own, 136 combined minutes and a Lightning bench that felt like it lived in the box. The second period turned into a full line brawl, and the stoppages made it tough for either team to find any rhythm.
Florida did get a spark when Brad Marchand finished a pretty passing play on the power play at 7:05 of the second. That goal mattered, because it kept the building engaged and made the third period feel like a grind instead of a formality.
Florida Panthers power play tested in Battle of Florida
From a Panthers point of view, it felt like one of those nights where the chances were there, but the finish was missing.
Florida went 1-for-11 on the power play, and the third period was the turning point. The Panthers had a cluster of man-advantage looks, including a four-minute opportunity, and could not find the equalizer.
Tampa's penalty killers protected the slot and forced the puck to the outside, then cleared rebounds before Florida could reload. Andrei Vasilevskiy made 24 saves, and nine of them came while Tampa was shorthanded.
Nikita Kucherov scored twice, the second into an empty net, and it summed up a game where Florida kept reaching for the equalizer rather than owning the pace, leaving a clear checklist for the next meeting.