Takeaways from the Florida Panthers’ Preseason Loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning

Here are our takeaways from the Florida Panthers’ 3-1 preseason loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning:

SUNRISE — The Florida Panthers suffered a 3-1 preseason loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning on Monday night.

Emile Lilljeberg opened the scoring with a floater of a slap shot that beat Sergei Bobrovsky with 6:41 to go in the first period.

Bobrovsky was taken out of the game with 10:47 to go in the second period and finished the night with 10 saves on 11 shots.

Gage Goncalves extended Tampa Bay’s lead to 2-0 after potting a Conor Geekie rebound past Spencer Knight off of an odd-man rush with 8:20 to go in the second period.

Evan Rodrigues did not play for the final 7:54 of the third peirod and did not return for the third.

Sam Reinhart brought the Panthers back within a goal with a deflection of a quick snap shot by Carter Verhaeghe on the power play with 4:34 to go.

Maxim Groshev tacked on an empty-net goal with 2:09 to go.

Knight finished the game with 13 saves on 14 shots.

Here are a few takeaways from Monday night’s preseason clash with the Tampa Bay Lightning:

— Uvis Balinskis was by far the most noticeable player on the ice for the Panthers. He made a few big plays in the defensive zone and was active in the offensive zone. He should challenge Nate Schmidt or Adam Boqvist for that final spot on the blue line in the opening night lineup.

— Spencer Knight rebounded from a rough outing in Raleigh. The lone goal he allowed was a rebound off a rush shortly after coming into the game and he settled into the game after that. His biggest save of the night was when he stuffed Nikita Kucherov with a big pad save on a partial breakaway.

— A.J. Greer spent a bit of time on the second line with Matthew Tkachuk and Sam Bennett and played a bit of a Nick Cousins role on that line. He forechecked hard and played the agitator role well.

— The puck movement on Florida’s lone power play of the night look quick and snappy. They rotated well to get Verhaeghe into space where he could snap a shot through traffic. It was their only power play of the night — and albeit against a group of players who won’t be killing penalties for Tampa this year — but 1-for-1 is 1-for-1.