The Tampa Bay Lightning and Florida Panthers closed out the preseason with a bang. Now the Bolts will start the 2025-26 NHL season a bit poorer and a few players short.  

Tampa forwards Scott Sabourin has been suspended four games, while J.J. Moser will sit for two for boarding.  Roman Schmidt and Gage Goncalves have both been fined for cross-checking.

The NHL has also issued fines to the Tampa Bay Lightning organization and head coach Jon Cooper. The Bolts have been fined $100,000 and their bench boss $25,000 for “their actions culminating in the events” of Saturday’s game.

 

Tampa’s Scott Sabourin Suspended For Games for Roughing Panthers’ Aaron Ekblad

Sabourin will be suspended for four games for roughing the Cats’ captain after delivering what the NHL’s Department of Player Safety called an “ungloved sucker punch.”  He picked up a match penalty for the play which came at 2:17 of the opening periof of Saturday’s game.

He forfeits $16,145.84 as a result of the suspension.

Sabourin has been sent to the AHL’s Syracuse Crunch. He will not be required to miss any time until – or, more accurately, if – he’s called back up to the Lightning. Sabourin only suited up for one NHL game last season.

 

Lightning’s J.J. Moser Suspended Two Games for Boarding Florida’s Jesper Boqvist

Moser will sit for two after a dangerous hit on Boqvist that came at 13:52 of the first period. The refs issued him a major penalty for boarding along with a game misconduct.  Moser forfeits $35,156.26 in salary during his ban.

 

Tampa’s Roman Schmidt Fined for Cross-Checking Panthers center Carter Verhaege

Schmidt picked up a $2,098.52 for cross-checking Florida’s Carter Verhaeghe at 7:13 of the first period. The Bolts blueliner picked up a major penalty and game misconduct for cross-checking.

 

Gage Goncalves Fined for Cross-Checking Florida forward Evan Rodrigues

Goncalves was fined $3,125.00 for a cross-check on Panthers forward Evan Rodrigues that came at 10:09 of the second period. He was also issued a major penalty and game misconduct for cross-checking. 

 

If you’re doing the math, Saturday’s game has now cost the Lightning and their players a grand total of $181,525.62.

 

 

The two clubs met on September 30 in a 3-2 Lightning win with 28 penalty minutes. Two days later, a rematch saw another Lightning win – this one 5-2 – along with 186 penalty minutes; that one included Florida’s A.J. Greer delivering a gloved sucker punch that injured Lightning winger Brandon Hagel and resulted in a $2,213.54 fine to Greer. 

Saturday’s 7-0 Panthers win had plenty of penalties on both sides. The two teams combined for a preseason-high 322 penalty minutes – 182 on the Lightning and 140 for the Panthers.  Sixteen players were ejected from the game.

“That’s a first for me,” said Lightning coach Jon Cooper. “I think we had more coaches than players on the bench at one point.”

The last regular-season NHL game to break the 300-PIM mark came back on February 11, 2011, when the Pittsburgh Penguins and New York Islanders combined for 346 penalty minutes.  The all-time single-game record is 419 PIMs, which was racked up by the Philadelphia Flyers and Ottawa Senators on March 5, 2004. 

If the Lightning couldn’t avenge Hagel on the ‘goals’ part of the scoreboard, they sure did in the ‘penalty minutes’ portion.

And, hey, they totally dominated them in disciplinary rulings…

The Panthers and Lightning will meet next on November 15.

 

Referees for the game were Jean Hebert (#15) and Michael Markovic (#31), with Jonathan Deschamps (#80) and Jonny Murray (#95) on the lines. The same ref pairing was on the ice for the prior Bolts vs. Panthers game two days prior.