Panthers Continue to Dominate Lightning in Tampa
- Michelle Gordon
- Dec 16, 2025
- 3 min read
It's safe to say that the Florida Panthers have been the nemesis of the Tampa Bay Lightning the past few seasons. Although the Lightning have managed a few good games against their in-state rivals, those good games almost always seem to take place on the road in Sunrise. The Panthers have basically owned the Lightning in Tampa, and last night was no different.
Panthers Start Quickly
The Panthers started this game as they often do-- by trying to assert their physical dominance. The referees were quick to punish this bad behavior by sending Niko Mikkola to the penalty box for two minutes. Unfortunately, the wrong team got the best of that man-advantage, as Sam Reinhart fired home his 16th of the season, a shorthanded tally, to put his team up 1-0. Seven seconds after that power play, the Panthers would double their lead as Anton Lundell scored his 10th of the season.
Lightning Stymied Again
As has been happening all too often with the Lightning of late, they had numerous grade A chances for the remainder of the first period but simply could not find the back of the net.
Through one period, the Lightning had the edge in total shots, shot attempts, scoring chances, and high danger chances. But in the only area that actually matters in this game, the Panthers led 2-0.
Panther goalie Sergei Bobrovsky continued to stonewall the Bolts for most of the second period. Then, at 11:48 of the middle frame, the always-hated Brad Marchand tipped one past Jonas Johansson to make it 3-0 for the Panthers. Later in the period, on a power play, Sam Reinhart scored his second of the game to give the Panthers a pretty insurmountable lead at 4-0.
Bolts Try to Claw Back In
Credit the Lightning for continuing to fight in this game. With under a minute remaining in the second period, the Bolts finally broke through the tough armor of Sergei Bobrovsky, and it came from an unexpected source. Max Crozier scored the first goal of his NHL career to make it a 4-1 game as the second period came to a close.
Early in the third, they kept on coming. J.J. Moser scored for the second straight game to pull the Lightning to within two goals at 4-2. The Panthers challenged the goal for goaltender interference.
Florida lost the challenge, and the Bolts had the goal and a power play! Unfortunately, they could not capitalize.
Panthers Keep Feasting on Johansson
Just when it looked like the Lightning were back in this one, Florida scored once again. Carter Verhaege backhanded on right past Johansson to quash the Lightning momentum. The Lightning never regained momentum and really did not generate anything after that goal. Florida closed this one out by a 5-2 final.
Coach Cooper summed things up in classic Coop style after the game, "It was basically two what I thought were kind of tired hockey teams. It was like being in the American League playing three and three. It's that Sunday game where you are grinding and what happens in those games is you got to get the lead. You get the lead, there is a good chance you are going to win that game. I thought we looked like two tired hockey teams. They got the lead and held onto it. In 82 games, those games pop up and they happen and you have to take advantage of them. It is tough to lose in our building. They jumped on us and we couldn't recover."
Three Stars
Sam Reinhart-- 2 goals
Carter Verhaeghe-- 1 goal, 1 assist
Max Crozier-- 1st NHL goal
Up Next
The Bolts will have a few days to think about what went wrong tonight. Next game is Thursday night at home against the LA Kings. Game is scheduled for 7pm.
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