Things We Saw in Florida Panthers Preseason Loss to Lightning

SUNRISE — One thing we learned from Monday night’s preseason game against the Tampa Bay Lightning is if the Florida Panthers are not engaged, they’re not too fun to watch.

That was the case on Monday night.

Between the Panthers and the Dolphins, few should have had any problem getting to sleep on Monday night.

For the Panthers, Monday was a preseason game in front of a friends-and-family type gathering.

It felt like it.

If the Panthers cared at all about these types of games, you should be worried.

• NHL Releases Florida Panthers Stanley Cup Championship Film Today

Florida did play three of its top four forward lines and five of its top six defensemen on Monday.

Only Tampa goalie Jonas Johansson — who surrendered seven goals to the Panthers’ prospects and AHLers last week — had a shutout going right before Sam Reinhart deflected a Carter Verhaeghe power-play shot with 4:34 remaining.

The Panthers split Monday’s net between Sergei Bobrovsky (goal on 10 shots faced) and Spencer Knight (goal on 14 shots).

Both were fine.

So, what else did we learn?

— The Panthers were without Evan Rodrigues for the second half of the game after he left in the second period.

Coach Paul Maurice said afterward that if this was, you know, a game that mattered, Rodrigues likely would have kept going.

It was not. He did not.

Rodrigues is not expected to play Wednesday in Tampa.

— Florida only got one power play chance on Monday and, just like what we saw at the morning skate, it looks like Adam Boqvist is going to get the first crack at quarterbacking the first unit.

The Panthers ran A-Bo up top with Verhaeghe, Matthew Tkachuk, Sasha Barkov, and Sam Reinhart on the top group.

— Patrick Giles, who played in his fifth straight preseason game, centered what appears to be be Florida’s starting fourth line on Monday — and was very active on the team’s penalty kills.

Maurice says that Giles has to get better on faceoffs — Florida put him in the dot for a game-high 20 and he won 30 percent.

Maurice said they will keep working on that what with Giles learning how to play center on the fly.

— The only member of Florida’s top-6 defensemen not to play Wednesday was Niko Mikkola. He was replaced by Uvis Balinskis and played with Nate Schmidt.

More on who we think makes the Opening Night roster HERE.

PANTHERS (PRESEASON) ON DECK

TAMPA BAY LIGHTNING (2-2) at FLORIDA PANTHERS (3-3)

• When: Wednesday, 7 p.m.
• Where: Amalie Arena, Tampa
• TV: Scripps Sports — WSFL 39 (Miami/Fort Lauderdale); WHDT 9 (West Palm); LAFF 36.3 (Naples/Fort Myers)
• Streaming: Panthers+; ESPN+
• Radio: None
• 2023-24 Regular Season Series (Panthers Won 2-1) — At Tampa Bay: Panthers 3, Lightning 2 (Dec. 27); Panthers 9, Lightning 2 (Feb. 17). At Florida: Lightning 5, Panthers 3 (March 16).
• All-time Regular Season Series: Florida leads 77-51-19, 10 ties
• All-Time Postgame Series: Lightning Leads 2-1 (won 2021 first-round, 2022 ECS); Florida d. Lightning 4-1 in 2024 first-round.
• Up Next for the Panthers: Saturday vs. Los Angeles Kings at Quebec City, 7 p.m. (No TV/Streaming)

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KEY DATES FOR THE FLORIDA PANTHERS

• Florida Panthers Preseason: Through Sunday
• Florida Panthers Ring Ceremony, Sunrise: Monday, 6:30 p.m.
• Florida Panthers Opening Night/Banner Unveiling: Tuesday, Oct. 8 vs. Bruins (ESPN), 7:30