The Tampa Bay Lightning and Florida Panthers rivalry will reach new heights in the 2025-26 season following an eventful preseason. Often, preseason games don't mean anything to anyone except for players vying for a spot on the big club, but when two division rivals who met just six months ago in the playoffs face off with one another, there is always going to be bad blood.
The Lightning and Panthers met three times during the preseason, with the latter two games drawing fans' attention when both teams accrued nearly 500 combined penalty minutes in those contests.
For hockey fans, the last game was the most entertaining to watch, with forward Scott Sabourin and blueliner JJ Moser leading the way. Sabourin landed a nasty "sucker punch" on Aaron Ekblad while Moser boarded Jesper Boqvist. Both incidents led to some intense shoving matches.
These penalty-filled games foreshadowed what is to come in the regular season with two of the Eastern Conference's most stable franchises that have won a combined four Stanley Cups in the 2020s and made a combined six Cup appearances.
With the Lightning and Panthers once again looking like powerhouses in the East despite the latter losing Matthew Tkachuk and Aleksander Barkov for an extended time, it shouldn't surprise fans when they see playoff-like matchups every time the two teams meet. Clearly, the playoffs are still in both teams' minds, or else you wouldn't have seen such an intense atmosphere across two preseason games.
JJ Moser's actions will affect the Lightning's opening-night lineup
The NHL handed Sabourin a four-game suspension while Moser got two games, the latter of which will affect the Lightning's opening night lineup. While Sabourin is a lifetime AHLer unless injuries strike, Moser became a focal point of the Lightning's core, appearing in 54 regular-season games in 2024-25, and putting up 14 points, two goals, a plus-20, 70 blocks, and 34 hits across 18:51 of average total ice time.
While his point production wasn't anything to boast about, Moser's metrics at even strength showed how much of an impact he's made throughout his time with the Lightning. He has been a plus-50 player in the Corsi For despite 46.3 percent of his starts coming in the offensive zone. Meanwhile, Moser was on the ice for 55 goals, good for a 13.4 on-ice shooting percentage.
He occasionally quarterbacks power plays and has been a force on the penalty kill unit. So, the Lightning will miss his presence during the first two games of the season.
Expect retaliation when the Lightning and Panthers square off again
It also shouldn't surprise anyone if the Panthers, especially Jesper Boqvist, try to get even with Moser. That was one violent collision that could have led to yet another member of the Panthers going down for extended time.
Either way, there is no doubt the preseason marked an entertaining start to a new year between two teams that have since developed into one of the NHL's most heated rivalries. All eyes will be on the Panthers as they look to repeat, while teams like the Lightning try to unseat them. But when these two squads square off following a way-too-intense preseason, expect the entire NHL universe to tune in.