Late Lightning goal sends Panthers to first loss of preseason

The Florida Panthers resumed their preseason schedule Wednesday night as they took on the Tampa Bay Lightning from the Kia Center, home of the Orlando Solar Bears.

With the preseason still being young, this was an opportunity for the coaching staff to put players into game action who are fighting for a spot on the opening night roster.

After sweeping the doubleheader against the Nashville Predators on Sunday from Sunrise, the Panthers lost to Tampa Bay in wild affair by the score of 8-7.

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Florida opened the scoring on their first power play of the contest. They struck following a quick entry into the Lightning zone, with Panthers forward Jesper Boqvist dropping it off to Zac Dalpe who buried his shot from the high slot to make it 1-0 Florida at the 3:40 mark.

It didn’t take long for the Cats to get on the board again.

Boqvist and Patrick Giles played give-and-go up the left wing wall and Giles fired a quick backhand pass found AJ Greer in the low slot.

Greer made no mistake, adding to Florida’s early lead.

The Lightning cut Florida’s deficit to one about three minutes later after a lost battle on the far boards, which left Tampa defenseman Darren Raddysh alone in the slot.

He quickly put the puck past Panthers goalie Chris Driedger on a one-timer to get the Bolts on the board.

Just before the period ended, the Lightning tied the score after winning a battle on the far side wall.

The puck was dished to defenseman Tobie Paquette-Bisson, who scored just above the circle with 23 seconds left in the period.

Florida got into penalty trouble in the second with two holding calls just minutes apart.

Although they killed off the first one, the Panthers were not able to on the second one as Raddysh struck again on a one-timer from the point.

Driedger’s was screened on the play by Dylan Duke as the Lightning took the lead with 10:10 remaining in the middle frame.

There would be another quick response, this time by the team in red on the power play. The Lightning appeared to have broken up Giles’ feed to the slot, but Cats defenseman Uvis Balinskis was first to the puck and tapped it to Sandis Vilamnis, who wristed a shot by Johansson to tie the at three less than two minutes later.

Penalty trouble continued for the Lightning, but a mishandling of the puck by Florida goaltender Ken Appleby resulted in a shorthanded wraparound goal by Conor Geekie to make it 4-3 Tampa at 5:06 of the third.

The Panthers responded on that same power play 28 seconds later.

Florida moved the puck low-to-high as Ryan McAllister’s shot from the left circle was saved, but Boqvist scored on the rebound to tie the game once again at four.

The back-and-forth didn’t stop there as Tampa forward Niko Huutanen tipped Raddysh’s point shot past Appleby to give the Bolts a 5-4 lead at 7:01.

Florida tied the score at five following a defensive zone draw. Wilmer Skoog chipped the puck around the Lightning defense, and his backhand shot from the right circle got past the glove of Johansson at 8:17 of the third period.

Johansson gave up another sharp angle shot from the short side as Florida blueliner Tobias Bjornfot drove up the side, firing a shot from the left side past the blocker of Johansson to put Florida back in front with just over 10 minutes to go.

Florida’s lead was extended to two as youngster Sandis Vilmanis kept the puck in the Lightning zone and fished a nice passing play with McAllister, but it wouldn’t last long.

The goals just continued to come as the Lightning cut the deficit to one after Florida coughed up the puck in their own end, and with Panthers defenseman Matt Kiersted and a Bolts player crashing into Appleby, the Lightning were able to cut the Cats’ lead in half.

Tie game? That was the case as Tampa’s Emil Lilleberg fired a shot from the point that was saved by Appleby at at the top of his crease, but with his inability to see the puck after the shot, it was knocked in into his own net.

As if the game couldn’t get any crazier, the Panthers took a penalty with less than two minutes left, and the Lightning made them pay as they scored with two seconds left to win the game 8-7.

Florida dropped to 2-1-0 in the preseason and will visit the Carolina Hurricanes on Friday night in Raleigh.

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