The Florida Panthers and the Tampa Bay Lightning play in the Atlantic Section of the National Hockey League (NHL) and hate each other, and the hatred escalated again during Tuesday’s preseason game in Orlando.
In fact, observers didn’t necessarily remember the final score – 2 to 0 for the “Bolts” – on an evening marked by numerous arguments and insults. In addition, the results of the hostilities were quite well documented: 10 misconduct penalties and 160 penalty minutes, including, in particular, a rather violent fight between Tanner Jeannot of the Lightning and Niko Mikkola of the Panthers.
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After crossing paths in the playoffs two years in a row (2021 and 2022), the two teams do not love each other with tender love and have already sent the usual messages in advance of the season. As Stanley Cup finalists in 2023, the Panthers will look to continue their momentum, while Tampa Bay has been used to success for several years and will look to stay afloat despite the absence of goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy in the first two months of the calendar.
“That’s typical of our games against them. “We’re getting used to it and it’s OK,” Panthers goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky admitted in a postgame interview with the website floridahockeynow.com. It was a really good meeting with high intensity and it was good to get back to work, play hockey and be together.”
“As you mentioned, it was very intense. The physical aspect was there. It looks like we picked up where we left off last year. It was nice to see that the emotions are very strong at this stage,” added striker Steven Lorentz.
It remains a preparation game…
While Bobrovsky enjoyed his 60 minutes on the ice in his first exhibition phase action since Sept. 25, his head coach Paul Maurice didn’t seem too surprised by the turn of events, either in terms of hostility or quality During the game he also had to make do with the ineffectiveness of his power play, which he destroyed five times.
“It’s a difficult encounter that can be judged in terms of several game situations. It was difficult to move the puck,” he complained, knowing full well about the unfavorable ice conditions. It remains a preparation game. Some guys are trying to get back into shape, others are trying to get a place in the squad. It’s just good to get some reps because some of them haven’t played in a long time.”
Note to those interested: Two more episodes of the Florida rivalry are scheduled before the end of the preseason calendar, Thursday and Saturday.