The Florida Panthers dropped a 5-2 decision to the Tampa Bay Lightning in their final game of the 2024 Rookie Showcase at Ford Ice Center Bellevue in Nashville.
Florida was the better team for most of the opening frame, but it was the Lightning who opened the scoring when Conor Geekie banged in a pass from Ethan Gauthier at the 16:57 mark.
The Cats drew even when Hunter St. Martin scored for the third consecutive game by one-timing a crafty feed from Gracyn Sawchyn past Ryan Fanti from the right dot with four seconds left in the period. The second helper on the power-play goal went to camp invitee Krzysztof Macias, who was making his first appearance of the showcase.
The Lightning controlled the second period, scoring three times with the goals going to Jan Golicic, Dyllan Gill, and Gauthier.
Max Groshev beat Cooper Black, who went the distance, off traffic in front early in the third to give the Bolts a 5-1 lead.
After Evan Nause threw the puck down low, Riley Hughes quickly centered out in front to Kai Schwindt and he beat Harrison Meneghin with a one-timer midway through the period to pull one back for the Panthers.
That’s as close as Florida would get. The teams would hold a five-round shootout after the game and the only conversion was this beauty by Sawchyn, who was the most impressive of the Panthers prospects over the four-day event in this writer’s humble opinion.
Props to Black for stopping all five shots in the skills competition for the Cats, who went a very uneven 1-2 at the Showcase.
The Panthers will open training camp on Thursday before playing an exhibition double-header versus the Nashville Predators at Amerant Bank Arena on Sunday.