Feb 5, 2026; Tampa, Florida, USA; Tampa Bay Lightning center Curtis Douglas (42) and Florida Panthers defenseman Niko Mikkola (77) fight during the third period at Benchmark International Arena. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement Neitzel-Imagn Images

The Florida Panthers got absolutely thrashed 6-1 by the Tampa Bay Lightning at Benchmark International Arena in the final night of action before the NHL shuts down for three weeks for the 2026 Winter Olympics in Italy.

Tampa Bay, clad in its Stadium Series kit, scored twice in each period with the goals going to Brandon Hagel, Zemgus Girgensons, Jake Guentzel, Erik Cernak, Pontus Holmberg and Oliver Bjorkstrand.

Guentzel’s goal came on the power play; Cernak’s marker was his first of the season; and Holmberg’s goal ended Daniil Tarasov’s night with 13:51 left in regulation. Tarasov left the game with a lower-body injury after stopping 20 of 25 shots faced.

Usually snake-bitten Mackie Samoskevich broke up Andrei Vasilevskiy’s shutout bid at 9:50 of the third. Samsokevich took a crisp cross from Jesper Boqvist, loaded up and rang a shot of the iron and in from the right circle, It was just his second goal of 2026. The secondary helper on the power-play marker went to Anton Lundell.

The teams combined for a whopping 147 penalty minutes and 51 hits, with the Lightning holding a 34-17 edge in that department. Matthew Tkachuk ignited a melee 4:06 into the final frame, when he hit Nikita Kucherov in the back during a stoppage in play, knocking him to the ice. Hagel took exception and start swinging (mostly missing) on Tkachuk. A “highlight” of the fracas was mild-mannered Gustav Forsling beating the tar out of J.J. Moser.

After a hard-fought and emotionally draining must-win over the Boston Bruins the night before, the depleted Panthers were simply no match for the red-hot Lightning in this one, looking every bit like the Bolts’ little brother again. Florida enters the Olympic break eight points behind the Bruins for the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference with only 25 games left on the schedule to make up that gap. A daunting road lies ahead.

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