NHL: Tampa Bay Lightning Close Out Preseason with 5-2 Win Over Florida Panthers

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By Mike Bonts

TAMPA - Tampa Bay picked up its only victory of the preseason in its final game after downing the Florida Panthers 5-2 at AMALIE Arena on Saturday.

The Lightning never trailed. Vladislav Namestnikov's hat trick proved to be the difference in the contest..

Nikita Kucherov netted the game's opening goal, wiring a shot from the right circle into the back of the net on a power play to provide the Lightning a 1-0 lead at 3:51. 

Florida tied the game 1-1 at 5:15 on a goal from Rudolfs Balcers.

Tampa Bay retook the lead for good 2-1 at 12:15 after Namestnikov scored the first of his two first-period goals. Namestnikov netted a second goal in the first period, scoring on the power play with 46 seconds to go in the opening frame.

The Lightning added to their lead early in the second period, Namestnikov completing his hat trick after scoring his third goal of the game at 7:30 of the middle frame.

Florida got a goal back at 8:45 of the second after Aleksi Heponiemi scored to cut the Lightning lead to 4-2.

Tampa Bay closed out the scoring at 4:56 of the third period. Brayden Point scoring on the back post off a feed from Cal Foote for the 5-2 final.

Goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy made his second-consecutive start and stopped 27-of-29 shots to earn the win..

Tampa Bay outshot Florida 31-29, including a 14-9 advantage in the first period.

Victor Hedman ended the preseason taking the most shots on the Lightning with 14 over three games. Erik Cernak dished out a team-high four hits.

Tampa Bay went 2-for-3 on the power play Saturday night.

The Lightning finished the preseason with a record of 1-4-0. The Bolts split the two-game preseason series with the Panthers having fallen 3-2 in Sunrise on Thursday.

The Lightning open the regular season Tuesday, October 11 against the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden (7:30 p.m. puck drop) in a rematch of the 2022 Eastern Conference Final, a series the Bolts won 4-2.

The Bolts return to AMALIE Arena Tuesday, October 18 for the home regular season opener against the Philadelphia Flyers (7 p.m. puck drop).

(Mike Bonts covers hockey for SportsDay.)

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