It was anything but a high-scoring affair, but the Florida Panthers earned a victory over their in-state rivals Tampa Bay Lightning at the Amalie Arena on Wednesday night.
They improved to 4-3 in exhibition play with their 2-1 overtime victory, avenging their 3-1 setback against the Lightning on Monday night. Twenty-year-old Sandis Vilmanis, whom the Panthers signed in March to a three-year entry-level deal, scored the winner 13 seconds into the extra session.
Joining the rush, he trailed Anton Lundell's drive toward the net, took his drop pass and swiftly fired a wrist shot past Lightning goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy:
The 34-year-old Zac Dalpe, who played most of last season with the American Hockey League affiliate Charlotte Checkers, opened the scoring for the Panthers in the first period:
Russian sniper Nikita Kucherov, who earned the Art Ross Trophy last season and has 144 points, leading all scorers, tied the game at 1-1 for the Lightning with under five minutes remaining in regulation. He blasted a one-timer past goaltender Spencer Knight after Braden Point had won an offensive zone faceoff:
Vasilevskiy finished with 21 saves on 23 shots he faced, while Knight made 26 saves on 27 shots. So, what were the three biggest takeaways from Wednesday night's game?
#1 Nikita Kucherov isn't afraid to drop the gloves
While he's known for his lethal goal-scoring abilities, Kucherov demonstrated that he's not shy to drop the gloves. He immediately jumped to his teammate and new captain Victor Hedman's defense, who took a hard open-ice hit from Josh Davies:
Coach Jon Cooper explained that his players sticking up for one another isn't anything new.
"It's kind of been a staple for us for a decade since I've been here," Cooper explained.
"It's a close group and they've been together for a long time. Regardless of whether it's pre-season or not, those guys stick up for each other, and that's what happened."
#2 Conor Geekie is standing out
Originally selected in the first round of the 2022 NHL Draft by the Arizona Coyotes, Geekie was traded to the Lightning during the offseason and is working to earn a spot in the lineup.
During Wednesday's game, he dropped the gloves against Josh Davies (just one shift after he was targeted by Kucherov for the Hedman hit) and landed several solid punches:
Geekie received 19 PIM and a game misconduct. According to Cooper, his game is coming along, but there's still room for improvement.
"He looks like a man out there, but he's still a young kid," Cooper said. "But what I do see, there's a lot of maturity to his game, and there are things he needs to work on that will come with age and experience.
"But he is definitely farther ahead than I thought he was going to be when he came in here."
#3 The mostly regular lineup of the Lightning got bested by Panthers' B-players
The Panthers made the call to hold out most of their star players on Wednesday night, while the Lightning did the opposite.
However, Tampa's stars couldn't generate much against Florida, who held them to three first-period shots while also killing off a Bolts power-play opportunity.
The Panthers have one game remaining on their exhibition schedule, a matchup against the Los Angeles Kings on Saturday at the Videotron Centre in Quebec, QC.
They open up their Stanley Cup defense on Oct. 8 at the Amerant Bank Arena against the Boston Bruins, who they've dispatched from the postseason in two years straight.