Florida Panthers Shut Out by Lightning. Man, It Was Fun

SUNRISE — The Florida Panthers lost 4-0 to the Lightning on Monday night.

That is the simple truth of it all.

But, good golly, was it entertaining.

The sold-out crowd of 19,544 who crammed into the Vault seemed to enjoy every minute of it.

There was a lot going on.

The Lightning scored three quick goals in the opening period, but that was before things kind of went off the rails.

Matthew Tkachuk took a flying knee from Nikita Kucherov with 3:09 left in the first with the Panthers already down 3-0.

There was serious worry in the building.

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Tkachuk had to be helped off the ice after taking a hit to his right knee, and things looked serious.

When the second period started, Tkachuk was nowhere to be found.

It’s bad, right?

Only 2:19 into the second, Erik Cernak was called for roughing giving the Panthers a nice, long, 5-on-3 power play.

Tkachuk jumped onto the ice to loud applause.

The Panthers, going against Jonas Johanssen and not all-world goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy, were going to come correct, right?

Turns out, no.

Johanssen turned in a spectacular performance, the Lightning special teams that got burned the night before in Tampa were terrific, and the Panthers ended up seeing their four-game winning streak come to a close.

It was a fun night for hockey in South Florida.

And in the place where the University of South Florida is located, too.

“These are two teams who have battled it out,” Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper said afterward.

“When you include playoffs, regular-season, and preseason, we have probably played this team more than double of any other.

“These are two cross-state rivals, the last five Stanley Cups have had these two teams in them. Anytime you get together, it is pretty entertaining. This was another one tonight. They are always different, but the teams compete really hard.’’

Cooper, before the game, talked about how much of a rivalry the Panthers and Lightning have.

Yet, both teams are champions.

They are part of a special club that really does not get talked about all that much.

Being a Stanley Cup winner brings a measure of respect, and the Panthers have it for the Lightning.

Vice-versa, too, it seems.

The fights that break out every time these two play, whether it is preseason matchup in Orlando or a winner-take-all playoff game, notwithstanding.

“We both have rings,’’ Cooper said.

The Panthers and Lightning split this two-game, pre-Christmas home-and-home back-to-back hyphen-centric series.

Florida got a power-play goal and two shorties in its 4-2 win over the Lightning on Sunday.

The Lightning killed off four Florida power plays Monday in the Sunrise rematch with Mitchell Chaffee corralling a rebound off his skate and beating Sergei Bobrovsky to give Tampa Bay a power-play goal to make it 3-0.

Tampa Bay needed to win Monday night after losing at home on Sunday, and, the Panthers just did not have enough horsepower to get through.

“I think the offensive part of our game was there,’’ Maurice said. “Their guy made some saves, we missed some nets.

“I don’t think we had a whole lot in the tank, but they did not lay over in that game. There was a pretty good spark there. We’ll leave it where it is. The four days [off] will be great for this team. It was our third home game this month. We’ve done a little traveling here, and I think it showed.’’

Johansson, who has been a sieve in goal at times, was their guy.

And, pretty darned good on Monday.

The one-time Panthers backup stopped all 36 shots faced for his third shutout in the past two seasons.

Florida gave Johansson everything he could handle, and handle it, he did.

Both the Panthers and Lightning now get a couple days off before welcoming the Canadiens and Rangers into their respective towns.

Then, both teams head west for separate trips west.

The Battle of Florida, call it the Sunshine Skate if you want, has never been more intense.

And it is never boring.

Between Sunday’s game in Tampa and Monday’s rematch in Sunrise, close to 40,000 fans were in the two buildings.

“I think it’s good for hockey,’’ Sasha Barkov said, “and good for Florida.” 

Amen.

ON DECK: GAME No. 37

MONTREAL CANADIENS AT FLORIDA PANTHERS 

• When: Saturday, 1 p.m.
• Where: Amerant Bank Arena, Sunrise
• Local TV: Scripps Sports — WSFL 39 (Miami/FtL); WHDT 9 (WPB); LAFF 36.3 (SWFla)
• Streaming: Panthers+, ESPN+
• Radio: WPOW 96.5-FM2; WBZT 1230-AM (Palm Beach); WCTH 100.3-FM (Florida Keys); SiriusXM
• Panthers Radio Streaming: SiriusXM 932, NHL App
• Last Season: Florida won 3-1
• This Season — At Montreal: March 15; Ap. 1. At Florida: Saturday; Marrch 30.
• All-time Regular Season Series: Florida leads 58-39-11, 6 ties
• Up Next for the Panthers: Dec. 30 vs. New York Rangers, 7 p.m.