The Florida Panthers were defeated 6-1 by the Tampa Bay Lightning at Benchmark International Arena on Thursday, heading into the break with a record of 29-25-3. The team is currently eight points behind the second wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference, with 25 games left in the season.
“We’ve got to start playing playoff hockey now,” said forward Mackie Samoskevich. “That’s a good thing for us. If we want to get to where we want to go, we’re going to have to play that game. It’s going to be a challenge, but I think we can do it.”
Ten Panthers players will participate in the Winter Olympics during the break. The rest period is expected to help injured players recover, including Seth Jones and Jonah Gadjovich, who are projected to return after the break. Aleksander Barkov, Tomas Nosek, and Dmitry Kulikov remain out due to injuries, with Kulikov likely returning in March.
“Just get some rest,” head coach Paul Maurice said. “All this team needs is some rest.”
Tampa Bay opened scoring early when Brandon Hagel’s tipped shot found the net at 2:08 in the first period. Zemgus Girgensons extended their lead before Jake Guentzel scored on a power play at 1:14 of the second period. Lightning goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy made 33 saves and was named first star of the game.
“Big saves for a big man,” Samoskevich said. “He covers a lot of the net. Not much you can really see when you look up. He’s a very good goalie, and definitely tough to play against.”
Erik Cernak scored his first goal of the season late in the second period for Tampa Bay.
“The third goal hurt us, and then the fourth goal kind of put the game out of reach a little bit,” Maurice said. “Up until that point, I was really pleased with the way we were playing.”
The third period saw multiple brawls resulting in 19 penalties and six misconducts issued between both teams.
Pontus Holmberg added another goal for Tampa Bay on a power play after one such altercation while Panthers goaltender Daniil Tarasov exited due to injury and was replaced by Sergei Bobrovsky. Samoskevich scored Florida’s only goal on a power play at 9:50 in response; Oliver Bjorkstrand sealed Tampa Bay’s win with another late goal.
“It’s huge for us,” Samoskevich said about getting time off during the break. “Much needed. Some guys will get to go play some more hockey [at the Winter Olympics], which will be good for them and fun to watch. We’ll get some guys back after the break, and then go from there.”
Head coach Paul Maurice commented on his team enduring adversity: “That’s nine games in 15 days and nine guys out of our lineup. They played hard. I wore those men right out. You look at the minutes Sam Reinhart, Sam Bennett, Gustav Forsling and Niko Mikkola have played here, they gave all they had.”
Mikulas Hovorka reflected on making his NHL debut: “I got the call last night. It was pretty surreal. I couldn’t fall asleep with how excited i was… It’s a dream come true. I was just think today about all the hard work I put in to get here. I’d like to thank everyone that helped me along the way.”
Jesper Boqvist reached his 100th career NHL point during this game; Anton Lundell won 14 faceoffs out of 20; Florida led significantly in shot attempts with Luke Kunin on ice at even strength as well as overall scoring chances; Sam Reinhart leads Florida in goals (27), assists (28), and points (55) heading into this break.
The Panthers’ next scheduled game after their return is against division rival Toronto Maple Leafs at Amerant Bank Arena on February 26.
