The Florida Panthers and Tampa Bay Lightning don’t like each other after meeting in the playoffs in four of the last five seasons.
The 2025 playoffs, won by Florida, was particularly nasty with Brandon Hagel suspended one game for a hit on Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov and Aaron Ekblad suspended two games for injuring Hagel with an elbow.
The teams remembered that when they met Thursday, Oct. 2, and combined for 186 penalty minutes. A.J. Greer was fined for roughing and injuring Hagel.
Saturday’s preseason game blew past that with 65 penalties and 322 total penalty minutes.
It started early when Tampa Bay’s Scott Sabourin took down Ekblad in the first period and then punched him when he got up. Ekblad wouldn’t return to the game and Sabourin received a match penalty for intent to injure. Coach Paul Maurice told reporters the defenseman would be evaluated on Sunday.
Before the end of the period, Tampa Bay’s J.J. Moser and Florida’s Carter Verhaeghe and Jonah Gadjovich received game misconducts.
The scrums and penalty minutes continued to pile up in the second period.
Early in the third period, a hit by Tampa Bay’s Oliver Bjorkstrand led to him and other players being ejected.
All told, the game featured five fights, 20 roughing minors, six misconduct penalties and 12 game misconducts.
At one point, the Lightning had three players on the bench.
‘That’s a first for me,’ Lightning coach Jon Cooper told reporters. ‘I think we had more coaches than players on the bench at one point.’
The Panthers won 7-0. Scrutiny from the NHL Player Safety Department certainly will follow, especially with the match penalty to Sabourin.
The teams will next meet on Nov. 15 at the Panthers’ Amerant Bank Arena.
This story has been updated with new information.
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