3 Takeaways From the Florida Panthers & Tampa Bay Lightning Game 12/23/2024

One hit in the first period rendered the outcome of this rematch meaningless for Florida fans. Cats fans are far more concerned about the health of Matthew Tkachuk, who exited the game toward the end of the first period after a knee-to-knee contact with Nikita Kucherov. Tkachuk had to be helped off the ice and down the tunnel by his teammates and staff. Tampa came out pissed off about how the previous night’s game went and had a lot more jump in the first period. The game also had a different tone from the jump; things were significantly meaner in Sunrise, with Tampa actively trying to fight players to keep them behind plays. It was a revolving door to the Panther locker room, and the penalty box as multiple Florida players went down the tunnel for injuries and to the box as fights broke out all night, especially in the second period. Florida struggled to get anything going offensively and split the back-to-back with a 0-4 loss to the Lightning.

Costly Slow Start:

Tampa was on a mission to not repeat what happened on Sunday. They came out with a lot of juice to their game and pressured the Cats early in the first period, at one point outshooting them 0-5 in the first five minutes. After keeping Kucherov off the scoresheet and going back to the playoff games, he finally scored the first goal of the game during 4v4. Bennett was actively held back behind the play, with Cernak trying to engage in either a scrum or a fight. Bennett could’ve been a little quicker to get back, but Kucherov was coming in hot off the bench as the trailer and wasn’t covered, allowing him to break the ice with a backhand shot that went in over Bobrovsky’s shoulder. A very similar play developed about just under three minutes later; this time, Guentzel was the trailer, and with a screen in front of Bob, his shot from the blue line found its way into the net. The Lightning caught the Panthers in a line change and capitalized for the 0-2 lead. Chaffee converted a late power play into a 0-3 lead, his goal coming on a rebound after a great save by Bob. The Lightning rode the lead all the way into late in the third when they scored an empty net short-handed goal for the final 0-4 win.

Parade To The Locker Room:

Kucherov’s hit on Tkachuk set the tone for how the rest of the game went. The Panthers had several players go down the tunnel to be looked at. Tkachuk was the first and I think most expected he wouldn’t return to the game after a hit that. To the delight of the crowd, Matthew was back out on the ice in the second period, earning himself a large ovation. It’s always a scary moment when you see a player go down like that, especially for Florida, where Tkachuk is such a huge leader. He wasn’t the only player to leave the ice, though; Verhaeghe was the next one that went down the tunnel to be looked at. He threw a big hit in the second period and then was missing from the bench for a good six or seven minutes before returning. Greer threw a hit that sent him over Perbix and into the boards at the end of the second period. He went down the tunnel to be looked at before he returned in the third period. The one player that didn’t return to the bench was Niko Mikkola. Mikkola wasn’t on the bench to start the third period, and Balinskis moved up to play with Kulikov. After the game, HC Paul Maurice said that Mikkola tried to come back but couldn’t; he’s out day-to-day with an upper-body injury. When Tkachuk came back, the head coach had this to say: “He just knew we needed him back. He wasn’t at 100%, obviously…He tried to figure out a way tonight, and we appreciate that.” Barkov called Tkachuk a true warrior, incredible, and that he’s not going down easily. He went on to say that Tkachuk battles through a lot of things.

Fight Night In Sunrise:

Monday night’s game very much resembled one specific game from last season. In a match against the Arizona Coyotes, Zucker threw a hit on Cousins, which resulted in injury and a whole lot of fighting for the rest of the game. Tempers were short even before Kucherov’s hit as Greer and Lilleberg dropped gloves, but the fight was quick. As a result of it not being a full fistfight, each player was assessed a 2-minute minor for roughing. A fight in front of the Lightning net ended in Chaffee and Lundell getting offsetting roughing penalties. Then Kucherov’s hit on Tkachuk set off a massive fight on ice as Florida jumped about every single Tampa Bay player they could find outside of the goalie. Most of the Panthers were focused on trying to get to Kucherov, who was assessed a 5-minute major for kneeing and a game misconduct. Ekblad, in the same fight, was assessed a roughing minor, so the Cats only got a 3-minute powerplay out of the matter. Tampa took back-to-back penalties early in the second, with Hedman (holding) & Cernak (roughing) going to the box. Kulikov threw a pretty clean hit, but Tampa took exception to it and jumped him. That set off Florida, and a second full-team fight broke out in the Tampa Bay zone. Kulikov and Paul were given 10-minute misconduct. A final roughing penalty was given to Matthew Tkachuk in the second period. The third period was relatively quieter, with only three penalties: Perbix (high sticking), Bennett (roughing), and Greer (roughing). Greer’s penalty came after the final buzzer when he and Girgensons got into it which drew the rest of the teams in for a final scrum before leaving the ice. All in all, there were 63 total PIMs given out, 26 to Florida and 37 to Tampa. The Panthers play their first game against Montreal on Saturday in Sunrise.