The Florida Panthers Get Blown Out In Exhibition Game

1st Period

The opening period was more of a feeling out process for both teams. Florida was able to get some scoring chances, and was even on the power play. The extra man was unsuccessful, however they did get some shots on net.

Tampa Bay scored their first goal halfway through the first period. Brayden Point notched his first goal of the game at the 13:42 mark. The goal was assisted by Ondrej Palat and Nikita Kucherov.

Point scored his second goal with four seconds left in the period. This time he was assisted by Kevin Shattenkirk.

Although giving up two goals, the Panthers’ defense didn’t look bad early on. Keith Yandle made a diving poke check in the slot to stop a shorthanded goal. Surprisingly, Florida outshot the Lighting 11-10 in the period. However, Tampa made their shots count.

2nd Period

The Lighting picked up where they left off after Kucherov scored an early power-play goal. Tampa takes a dominating 3-0 lead over Florida.

Luke Schenn scored Tampa’s second goal of the period extending their lead to 4-0. Schenn’s goal was assisted by Palat, who had his second of the day, and Yanni Gourde.

The Panthers held the Lighting to four goals at the end of two. Florida was finally able to apply some offensive pressure. They picked up some speed to their game and were successful at getting the puck on the net.

However, they still haven’t scored yet and they started the third period on the penalty kill. The Cats for most of the game were lax on both sides of the ice. With stars like Aleksander Barkov and Jonathan Huberdeau, the Panthers have the talent to score a couple before the end of the game.

3rd Period

The period started off slow until a fight broke out between Panthers’ Brian Boyle and Tampa’s Mikhail Sergachev.

The Panthers were unable to score during a 5-on-3 power play. They did get some shots through, but couldn’t capitalize on the two-man advantage.

After killing the 5-on-3, the Lightning scored their fifth goal and Kucherov’s second of the game. Kucherov had a three-point game going with two goals and an assist.

Other than the fight and another Lightning goal early in the period, the rest was uneventful. The Panthers were shut out 5-0 in their only exhibition game. Florida opens the qualifying round on Saturday against the New York Islanders in a best of five.

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