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.
Thirteen penalties were issued as part of the mess. Lightning forwards Jake Guentzel and Nikita Kucherov received 10-minute misconducts, while the remaining penalties were two-minute minors.
Florida head coach Paul Maurice was also ejected in the aftermath.
"This is so good for the game," said Hagel post-game, per ESPN's Greg Wyshynski. "If you look back in the day, the rivalries were insane. It needs to get back into the game. It’s good for the players, shows a lot about the character of guys on your team. They’re fun. They’re playoff games.”
A total of 124 penalty minutes were handed out on the sequence, and Thursday’s matchup featured 147 PIMs overall.
Tampa Bay went on to cruise to a 6-1 victory. It marked the teams' final meeting of the season, with the Lightning winning two of the three matchups.
In a pre-season meeting in October, the Panthers and Lightning combined for an absurd 322 penalty minutes.
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