Feats of Strength: Lightning Air Grievances, Beat Panthers

SUNRISE — We all know the Panthers and Lightning do not like one another.

It appears playing twice within a 24-hour span put both teams on edge.

Monday night, the two teams brought out their festive best with both trading big hits and swapping punches for the holiday.

In the end, three goals scored by the Lightning in the opening period were too much with Tampa Bay evening the home-and-home series with a 4-0 win.

A day after Florida ended Tampa Bay’s four-game winning streak, the Lightning returned the favor.

Monday, the Lightning led 3-0 off 15 shots in the first.

Florida came out hard in the second helped by what was left over of Nikita Kucherov’s 5-minute major for kneeing Matthew Tkachuk, but could not put anything past Jonas Johansson — who played perhaps his best game in two seasons with the Lightning.

It was Johansson’s fourth career shutout. He made 36 saves in the win.

It was only the sixth start of the season for Johansson; he made two starts for the Panthers in 2022.

The game was affected by the parade of penalties — Tkachuk took a 2-minute minor for roughing after running Luke Glendening at the Tampa Bay bench.

In all, Monday’s game ‘featured’ 63 minutes of combined penalties with three game misconducts passed out including Kucherov for the knee-on-knee hit.

LIGHTNING ⚡️😼 PANTHERS NOTES

• Brayden Point has a point in all 15 road games he has played in this season, the longest run of consecutive road games played with a point in the NHL this season. He has tied Martin St. Louis (2006-07) for the longest road run with a point in franchise history.
• The Panthers lost one game to the Lightning last season during the regular season. It came at home.
• Florida will be off until returning to practice in Fort Lauderdale on Friday. The Panthers play host to the Canadiens on Saturday afternoon.

HOW THEY SCORED

• Lightning 1, Panthers 0 (6:56 1st): Nikita Kucherov gets around Carter Verhaeghe deep in the Florida zone and puts a backhanded shot over the glove of Sergei Bobrovsky.
• Lightning 2, Panthers 0 (9:20 1st): Brandon Hagel leaves a drop pass for Jake Guentzel and he one-times it through from the top of the slot.
• Lightning 3, Panthers 0 (16:24 1st PP): Bobrovsky stops Anthony Cirelli’s initial shot from out deep, but the puck ends up on the skate of Mitchell Chaffee and, moments later, in the back of the net.
• Lightning 4, Panthers 0 (14:18 SH EN): Hagel fires one into the empty net from the length of the ice on a 6-on-4 for the Panthers.

FHN’S 3 STARS OF THE GAME

• 1. Jonas Johansson, Tampa Bay
• 2. Anthony Cirelli, Tampa Bay
• 3. Brandon Hagel, Tampa Bay

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.