Panthers host Lightning for first time since penalty-filled preseason games
The Florida Panthers and Tampa Bay Lightning renew their rivalry for the first time in the 2025-26 regular season on Saturday.
They’re hoping the games won’t unfold similarly to the final two preseason contests between them a little more than a month ago.
The Battle of Florida has evolved into a heated affair over the past few years as both teams have risen to the top of the NHL — either the Lightning or the Panthers have reached the Stanley Cup Final each of the past six years, with each winning it all twice in that span. Fights, skirmishes, brouhahas are a norm nowadays whenever they play.
But what happened on Oct. 2 in Tampa and Oct. 4 in Sunrise to wrap up the preseason deviated far from what hockey games should be, even in exhibitions.
The teams accrued a combined 508 penalty minutes over those two games, with 26 total misconducts, 18 fighting penalties and two 15-minute match penalties called throughout those games.
“Obviously, we all saw what was there,” Panthers defenseman Jeff Petry said.
It all hit a crescendo in the second of those games. The fracases started when Lightning forward Scott Sabourin, one of a half-dozen players the Lightning called up from their minor-league affiliate before the game, jumped Florida defenseman Aaron Ekblad on his first shift in was perceived to be retaliatory for something that happened in another preseason game that week.
Everything unraveled from there.
The final numbers: 65 penalties, 13 game misconducts (and 18 total misconducts) and 322 penalty minutes (182 for Tampa Bay, 140 for Florida). The preseason game took more than three hours to complete, at times saw a half-dozen Lightning players in the penalty box and at one point saw a third-period goal taken off the board because a player that had gotten ejected (Florida’s Niko Mikkola) was on the ice and assisted on the tally.
Sabourin was suspended four games, Lightning defenseman J.J. Moser was suspended two games and the Lightning paid $176,302.10 in fines and forfeited salary, including a $100,000 fine to the organization and a $25,000 fine to coach Jon Cooper.
“It just got silly, got stupid,’’ Panthers forward Evan Rodrigues, who had a hat trick and perhaps most impressive was one of just 10 skaters on either team who didn’t have a penalty called on him in that Oct. 4 game, said after the game. “By the end of it, it wasn’t really hockey out there. Best thing to do is just move on.”
A little more than a month later, the Panthers are giving little to add fuel to the fire with the first of four regular-season contests now here (the teams also play Dec. 15, Dec. 27 in Sunrise and Feb. 5 in Tampa).
“Division game, a lot of pace, physicality, all the things you’d expect from a divisional game,” said Ekblad, who will play in his 750th career regular-season game and his 39th regular-season game against Tampa Bay on Saturday. “So, we’re excited to play.”
Added forward Eetu Luostarinen: “Usually those games are feisty. It’s the Battle of Florida, but we’re just trying to focus on our game. ... We’re planning to just play hockey first.”
And recently, when these two teams play hockey, things have gone in the Panthers’ favor.
Florida is 6-4-1 in the regular season against Tampa Bay since Paul Maurice took over as the Panthers’ head coach ahead of the 2022-23 season. The Panthers have knocked the Lightning out of the playoffs the past two years — winning the opening-round matchup in five games each time — on their way to winning consecutive Stanley Cups.
“If you get into playoffs with a team and if you do it in two consecutive years, that third year, there’s a lot that they don’t forget. Neither team forgets,” Maurice said. “So, that energy comes to the rink, and you know what could happen, and then they drop the puck and it’s usually something completely different. But it’ll be good. It’ll be fun.”
This story was originally published November 15, 2025 at 6:30 AM.
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