The Florida Panthers “B” team struck for a hard-earned 5-3 victory over a pretty well-stocked Tampa Bay Lightning last night at Benchmark International Arena.
Each member of the line consisting of Kai Schwindt, Hunter St. Martin and Cole Reinhardt turned on the red light and St. Martin and Reinhardt also added assists.
First Star Reinhardt stole the puck from defenseman Ryan McDonagh and beat Andrei Vasilevskiy from between the circles 5:35 into the final frame to give the Panthers the lead for good. It was his third goal of the preseason and came just six seconds after Jansen Harkins’ second of the night evened the score at 3-3.
Uvis Balinkski sent Sandis Vilmanis away for the clinching empty-netter at 19:36 after a series of saves by Kirill Gerasimyuk, who stopped 11 of 12 shots faced in the third to get the win.
Cooper Black started the game and played the first two periods, yielding twice on sixteen shots. Conor Geekie scored the other Lightning marker.
Boko Imama opened the scoring with sixteen seconds left in the opening frame when he deflected Donovan Sebrango’s shot past Vasilevskiy while camped out in front. The second assist on the goal went to Sam Lafferty.
Schwindt’s goal put the Panthers up by two 2:29 into the second. He swatted a loose puck in after an ill communication behind the Tampa Bay net between goalie and defenseman. Reinhardt and Mikulas Hovorka were credited with the assists.
Speedy St. Martin finished off a fantastic backhand crossing pass from Alex Petrovic at the 4:21 mark of the third. Schwindt drew the second helper on the play.
The two Sunshine State squads will get after it again at Amerant Bank Arena on Saturday evening to finish off the preseason slate.
Thursday results
- Philadelphia 2, Boston 0
- Detroit 3, Buffalo 2 (OT)
- Carolina 6, Nashville 5
- New York Rangers 4, New Jersey 3 (SO)
- Columbus 4, Pittsburgh 0
- St. Louis 1, Chicago 0
- Edmonton 2, Vancouver 1
- Seattle 4, Calgary 3 (SO)
- San Jose 10, Anaheim 0
- Vegas 5, Utah 4 (OT)
Tonight’s games
- Boston at Washington 7 p.m.
- Manhattan at Long Island 7:30 p.m.
- Dallas at Minnesota 8 p.m. (TNT)
- Winnipeg at Colorado 8:30 p.m.