The Florida Panthers were shut out 2-0 by former goaltender Jonas Johansson and the Tampa Bay Lightning last night at Amway Center in Orlando in the first of three games between the two clubs to conclude the preseason.
Johansson, who appeared in two games with the Cats during the 2021-22 season, stopped 25 shots for his second shutout of the preseason. He made 42 saves in his debut with the Lightning, a 4-0 victory over the Carolina Hurricanes on September 29.
Tanner Jeannot redirected Tyler Motte shot past Sergei Bobrovsky 5:24 into the first period with Dmitry Kulikov off for slashing to give the Lightning the only goal they’d need the rest of the night. Defenseman Zach Bogosian was credited with the secondary assist.
Nicholas Paul doubled the lead with 9:54 left in regulation after penalties on Oliver Ekman-Larsson (cross-checking) and Kevin Stenlund (tripping) 26 seconds apart gave Tampa Bay a 5-on-3 advantage. Alex Barré-Boulet and Brandon Hagel were credited with the assists.
The two teams combined for a whopping 160 penalty minutes and the physical game featured fights between Casey Fitzgerald and Auston Watson and Jeannot and Niko Mikkola as well as bevy of misconduct calls.
Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 20 of 22 shots, including a clear breakaway by Hagel early in the middle frame.
Matthew Tkachuk finished with a game-high five shots on goal and Nick Cousins put four shots on net for the Panthers, who couldn’t solve Johansson, even with five power-play chances.
The Panthers and Lightning will go again on Thursday in Tampa before finishing the meaningless games up on Saturday at Amerant Bank Arena.