Thursday, February 5, 2026

Lightning Smash Panthers

     The Tampa Bay Lightning stormed by the Florida Panthers 6-1 on Thursday night at Benchmark International Arena. It was the final game for both clubs before the 2026 Winter Olympics break. 
     Panthers defenseman Mikulas Hovorka made his NHL debut with the team tonight. The Lightning have won five straight games and have a 19-1-1 record in their last 21 games. 
     Tampa Bay(37-14-4) raced out to a 1-0 advantage at the 2:08 mark of the first period. Victor Hedman blasted a slap shot from the left point and it was redirected in by Brandon Hagel from the inner left circle for his 27th goal of the season. 
     It became 2-0 for the Bolts with 5:52 remaining in the first. Zemgus Girgensons backhanded a shot from the low slot past Daniil Tarasov for his seventh goal in 2025-26. 
     In the second period, the Lightning added a power-play tally to make it 3-0 at 1:14. Jake Guentzel put in a rebound wrist shot from the right side of the crease for his 26th goal this season. 
     They increased their lead to 4-0 with 2:10 left in the second. Erik Cernak got to his own rebound shot and scored his first tally of the year on a wraparound shot. 
     Florida(29-25-3) surrendered another goal at 6:09 of the third period and trailed 5-0. Pontus Holmberg poked in a shot from the blue paint on the power play for his ninth goal of the campaign. 
     The Panthers broke the shutout at the 9:50 mark of the third to make it 5-1. Mackie Samoskevich snapped a shot from the right-circle dot for his sixth goal of the season. 

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