The Florida Panthers dropped a wild 8-7 decision to the Tampa Bay Lightning in a prospect-laden, neutral site preseason game at Kia Center in Orlando.
With the game tied 3-3 after two periods, the teams combined for a whopping nine goals in the third, with the Bolts beating Ken Appleby five times on 15 shots, getting the win on Conor Geekie’s power-play with two seconds left in regulation.
The Panthers took an early 2-0 lead and were up 7-5 in the final frame before Tampa Bay scored three times in a 5:19 span to pull off the comeback.
Chris Driedger started and played the first two periods for the Cats. He finished his stint with 12 saves on 15 shots faced, surrending two goals to Darren Raddysh, who finished the game with five points, and one to Tobie Paquette-Bisson.
Appleby was beaten by Geekie twice and Niko Huuhtanen, Maxim Groshev and Dykan Duke.
Scoring for the Panthers were Zac Dalpe (PPG), A.J. Greer, Sandis Vilmans (PPG), Jesper Boqvist (PPG), Wilmer Skoog, Tobias Bjornfot and Ryan McAllister.
Patrick Giles and the Boqvist brothers each collected two assists and McAllister, Vilmanis, Uvis Balinksis and Mikulas Hovorka had one helper apiece.
Former Panther Johan Johansson went the distance for the Lightning. He made 19 saves on 26 shots.
The Panthers will get another day of practice in before heading to Raleigh to take on the Carolina Hurricanes.
Highlights