It was a rough and aggressive night down in Miami as the Lightning and Panthers met for the third time this week on Saturday, culminating a week of rivalry hockey that though it’s only preseason, at times feels like playoffs in October.
Ultimately, at the end of the night, the Lightning couldn’t get any offensive momentum going and the defense faltered as the Panthers went on to crush Tampa 7-0, handing the Lightning their first loss of their 2025 preseason-slate in the last match of the preseason. This loss also marks the end of a historic and impressive 6-0 undefeated preseason run for Tampa Bay as they ended the preseason with a 6-1 record. They were just shy of finishing 7-0. Luckily though, preseason doesn’t actually count and the Lightning can forget about this loss, go back and look at tape, and wipe the slate clean for the next time the Lightning face the panthers; because then, the scores will count and every win will matter.
Mackie Samoskevich scored the Panthers’ first goal of the night on an assist from Eetu Luostarinen in the fifth minute of the match.
Six minutes later in the 11th minute, Evan Rodrigues put one in on a power play that was assisted by Samoskevich and Luostarinen to make it 2-0.
The Panthers closed out the quarter with a goal by Jack Studnicka with assists from Tyler Motte and Niko Mikkola.
The Panthers extended their lead in the second period with three more goals. The first came off of the stick of Jeff Petry on a slap shot that was assisted by Rodrigues and Uvis Balinskis. Rodrigues then turned around and scored on a wrist shot that was assisted by Luostarinen and Balinskis. The last goal of the period was by Samoskevich on another power play for his second goal of the day. He was assisted by Motte and Jeff Petry.
The Panthers then held the momentum and went on to score in the fourth quarter as well. Rodriguez put his third goal of the day in the back of the net on a wrist shop that was assisted by Petry and Luostarinen.
Ultimately the Panthers out-performed the Lightning. Tampa only had 15 shots on goal compared to the Panthers’ 38. They also had 15 shots blocked opposed to Florida six.
But what really matters is that preseason does not matter and the Lightning can wipe this slate clean next week because that’s a wrap on preseason 2025. Up next, the regular season where the games count for real.
The Lightning welcome the Ottawa Senators to Benchmark International Arena on Thursday for the home opener of the 2025 season. The puck is set to drop at 7:00PM. From there, every game will count and every game will matter.