Florida Panthers at Tampa Bay Lightning

· National Hockey League

Florida Panthers

29-25-3

Final
1 - 6

Tampa Bay Lightning

37-14-4

Vasilevskiy stops 33 shots, Lightning beat Panthers 6-1 in final game before break

Florida Panthers vs. Tampa Bay Lightning: Game Highlights

Brandon Hagel, Oliver Bjporkstrand, Jake Guentzel, Erik Cernak, Pontus Holmberg and Zemgus Girgensons — who will all participate in the Olympic Games — scored for Tampa Bay. The Lightning are 19-1-1 in their last 21 games.

Lightning forward Nikita Kucherov extended his scoring streak to 10 games, his 13th career scoring streak of at least 10 games — which is tied for fifth in NHL history.

Mackie Samoskevich scored for the Panthers. Danil Tarasov finished with 20 saves for Florida before leaving due to injury in the third period. Sergei Bobrovsky finished the game for the Panthers, who played without regulars Brad Marchand, Aaron Ekblad, Evan Rodrigues. They all sat out after playing Wednesday against Boston.

After Tampa Bay went up 4-0, tempers flared between the two rivals, which started when Matthew Tkachuk hit Kucherov from behind well away from the puck during a delayed penalty. Tkachuk and Hagel, who fought off the opening faceoff between Canada and the U.S. at last year’s Four Nations Cup dropped the gloves during the dust up at 4:06 of the third period. All 11 skaters on the ice were given penalties while Florida coach Paul Maurice was ejected.

In the final preseason game between the teams in October, they combined for more than 300 minutes in penalties. They combined for 137 on Thursday.

Hagel opened the scoring 2:08 into the game, tipping a Victor Hedman shot. Girgensons made it 2-0 at 14:08, whacking a backhand past Tarasov during a scramble in front.

Tkachuk took an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty at the end of the first period and Guentzel made the Panthers pay for it, getting a rebound off a Darren Raddysh shot at 1:14. Cernak scored his first of the season on a wraparound with 2:10 to go.

Holmberg scored for Tampa Bay at 6:09 of the third before Samoskevich scored a power-play goal at 9:50. Bjorkstrand capped the scoring with 4:19 remaining.

Up next Panthers: Host Toronto on Thursday, Feb 26.

Lightning: Host Toronto on Wednesday, Feb. 25.

Regular Season Series

TB wins series 3-1

Scoring Summary

Goal	1st Period 2:08	Brandon Hagel Goal (27) Tip-In, assists: Victor Hedman (13)
Goal	1st Period 14:08	Zemgus Girgensons Goal (7) Backhand, assists: Pontus Holmberg (8), Yanni Gourde (15)
Goal	2nd Period 1:14	Jake Guentzel Goal (26) Wrist Shot, assists: Darren Raddysh (35), Nikita Kucherov (62)
Goal	2nd Period 17:50	Erik Cernak Goal (1) Wrap-around, assists: Ryan McDonagh (6), Dominic James (8)
Goal	3rd Period 6:09	Pontus Holmberg Goal (9) Poke, assists: Gage Goncalves (11), Oliver Bjorkstrand (17)
Goal	3rd Period 9:50	Mackie Samoskevich Goal (6) Snap Shot, assists: Jesper Boqvist (5), Anton Lundell (24)
Goal	3rd Period 15:41	Oliver Bjorkstrand Goal (10) Wrist Shot, assists: none

Statistics

FLA		TB
5	Blocked Shots	16
17	Hits	34
3	Takeaways	5
34	Shots	28
1	Power Play Goals	1
6	Power Play Opportunities	4
16.7	Power Play Percentage	25.0
0	Short Handed Goals	0
0	Shootout Goals	0
31	Faceoffs Won	25
55.4	Faceoff Win Percent	44.6
16	Giveaways	18
16	Total Penalties	17
76	Penalty Minutes	91