Sports
13 penalties handed out in massive Battle of Florida brawl
It wouldn’t be a Battle of Florida without some chaos going on.
Early in the third period of Thursday’s matchup between Florida and Tampa Bay, things boiled over after Panthers defenceman Niko Mikkola shouldered Lightning winger Nikita Kucherov to the ice.
Mikkola headed to the bench to change for Matthew Tkachuk, and moments later, a full line brawl broke out. The players involved included Lightning players J.J. Moser, Jake Guentzel, Darren Raddysh, Yanni Gourde, Brandon Hagel and Kucherov, along with Panthers players Donovan Sebrango, Gustav Forsling, Carter Verhaeghe, Sam Bennett and Tkachuk.
13 penalties were issued as part of the mess. Lightning players Guentzel and Kucherov got 10-minute misconducts. The rest of the penalties issued were two-minute minors.
A total of 124 penalty minutes were handed out on the play.
Tampa Bay went on to cruise to a 6–1 victory. This marked the two teams’ final meeting of the season, with the Lightning winning two of the three matchups.
The last time the two teams faced off, they combined for 136 PIMs. Thursday’s matchup had a total of 143 PIMs.
In a pre-season meeting in October, the Panthers and Lightning combined for an absurd 322 penalty minutes.