Florida Panthers
Panthers and Lightning Combine for 322 Penalty Minutes: ‘That Wasn’t Hockey’
SUNRISE — Evan Rodrigues got a hat trick in the final exhibition game of the preseason, but no one will be talking about that — or the Florida Panthers final score of 7-0 against the visiting Tampa Bay Lightning.
No, that will not be remembered.
What happened in between all of the goals scored by the Panthers will most certainly be remembered.
The Panthers and Lightning combined for 322 penalty minutes with 19 players given either a match penalty or 10-minute misconduct in a preseason marathon that really was a mess.
Unless you dig fights, ejections, cross-checks, extremely long breaks in the action, those kind of things.
“It just got silly, got stupid,’’ Rodrigues said when pressed postgame. “By the end of it, it wasn’t really hockey out there. So as I said, I think best thing to do is just move on and start focusing on Tuesday.”
Florida coach Paul Maurice did not want to comment much on the hijinks that ensued on Saturday, one fueled by Tampa Bay’s decision to bring up six players from their AHL Syracuse Crunch for the game.
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The Lightning did not announce the roster moves until a few hours before the game, and did not release their game night lineup until around 6 p.m.
The ‘Syracuse 6’ certainly made their intentions known early on with five of the six having some sort of fighting infraction by the second period.
During the first intermission, with the Panthers up 3-0, Mackie Samoskevich told Katie Engleson of Scripps Sports “they didn’t really plan on playing hockey tonight.’’
When asked if he agreed with that sentiment, Maurice deferred comment.
“The league will look at that, handle it the same way they do in the playoffs,’’ Maurice said. “I’ll leave it at that.”
Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper basically said it was just a good, ol’ fashioned Saturday night at the rink.
The Panthers and Lightning, coincidentally, combined for 186 penalty minutes on Thursday night in Tampa.
The Lightning have pointed to a hit on Brandon Hagel from A.J. Greer in the first period of that game that started all this mess.
That would be forgetting history between these two, no?
“The two Florida teams have had a lot of success in this league the last six years,’’ Cooper said. “And I think anybody that’s been a part of this rivalry would probably look at this box score and A) not be surprised and B) be like I can’t believe it’s taken this long for something like that to happen.
“It’s two extremely proud franchises and the boys played with their heart on their sleeves. That’s all I can say.”
Rodrigues, to his credit, continued answering questions about Saturday’s night at the fights even as he tried to turn the conversation around to what is next.
The Panthers, obviously, have a big couple of days coming up.
On Monday, the team will get their new Stanley Cup championship rings.
Tuesday, their second Stanley Cup banner goes up to the rafters before they open the real season against the Blackhawks.
Tampa Bay?
The Lightning bussed over to Naples after Saturday’s game for a couple of team-bonding days before opening against Ottawa on Thursday.
“That was a crazy game, everyone just wanted to stick up for each other,’’ Eetu Luostarinen said.
What did you think when you saw six AHL players jump into the lineup?
“Obviously, it makes you think ‘there might be something coming up’,’’ Luostarinen said. “It is what it is.’’
With all of the ejections, both teams looked like they might run out of players.
Rodrigues would have been cool with that — Maurice not so much.
“I think we probably would have been better off if they did that,’’ Rodrigues said.
How about a running clock?
“Yeah. My son was playing this weekend. There’s a couple games with running clocks,’’ Rodrigues said.
“It would have been nice.”
The Panthers did have something to worry in the game after Aaron Ekblad got cross-checked in the mouth by Scott Sabourin — one of the Syracuse 6.
Ekblad left the game for good on just his second shift of the game and Maurice did not offer an update.
Everyone seemingly just wanted to move along.
The Lightning visit Sunrise again on Nov. 15.
“You guys all watched the game,’’ Rodrigues said. “You have your own opinion. You all saw the game, and we’ll go from there.”
ON DECK: OPENING NIGHT
CHICAGO BLACKHAWKS at FLORIDA PANTHERS
- When: Tuesday, 5 p.m.
- Where: Amerant Bank Arena, Sunrise
- National TV: ESPN
- Streaming: ESPN+/Hulu
- Radio: WQAM 560-AM/104.3 FM; WBZT 1230-AM (West Palm Beach); WCTH 100.3-FM (Florida Keys); WCZR 101.7-FM (Treasure Coast); SiriusXM
- Panthers Radio Streaming: SiriusXM 932, NHL/Panthers App
- Last Season: Tied 1-1
- This Season — At Florida: Tuesday; At Chicago: Jan. 25
- All-time Regular Season Series: Blackhawks lead 30-20-4, 3 ties
- Up Next for the Panthers: Thursday vs. Philadelphia Flyers, 7 p.m. (Local TV)
