Takeaways from the Panthers’ 8-7 Preseason Loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning

The Florida Panthers suffered their first loss of the preseason to the Tampa Bay Lightning in Orlando. Here are my takeaways from the game.

The Florida Panthers suffered their first loss of the preseason, with Conor Geekie blowing past two Panthers defenders and beating Ken Appleby with a wide-angle shot with two seconds to go to help the Tampa Bay Lightning walk off with an 8-7 victory.

The Panthers found themselves down 5-4 early in the third period, but a flashy tying goal from Wilmer Skoog followed up by a Tobias Bjornfot shot that trickled past Jonas Johansson gave them the lead midway through the third period.

Ryan McAllister gave Florida a two-goal cushion before the Lightning rattled off three consecutive goals to run away with the victory.

Chris Driedger started for the first two periods and stopped 12 of the 15 shots he faced. Appleby came in to relieve him in the third period and allowed five goals and gets tagged with the loss as Florida moves to 2-1-0 on the preseason.

Jesper Boqvist shined, putting up a goal and two assists, while McAllister, Sandis Vilmanis, Adam Boqvist and Patrick Giles all had at least two points.

Here are my takeaways from Wednesday night’s game in Orlando:

— Patrick Giles looked sharp centering the wingers who will presumably make up the fourth line. He set up Jesper Boqvist with a nice backhand centering feed on his goal and he looked much faster and stronger than he did during last year’s preseason. He is playing himself into that competition for that spot on the opening night roster.

— Sandis Vilmanis was impressive, scoring on a solid wrist shot from the slot while setting up McAllister’s goal after forcing a turnover. He was given the opportunity to play alongside Anton Lundell and Eetu Luostarinen in camp due to an injury to Mackie Samoskevich and he could become a contender for that role as the preseason progresses.

— Chris Driedger gave up a couple of tough goals to his upper glove side, but other than that, looked sturdy overall. Given a few defensive miscues in front of him, he made it work.

— Uvis Balinskis was given some power play time on the game’s second unit and he looked very capable out there. He moved the puck well and picked up an assist on the power play, setting up Vilmanis in the slot.

— Jesper Boqvist looked like he was far and away the best player on the ice for the Panthers in this mixed squad game. His speed is top notch and he has shown that he has the offensive capabilities to play in the Top 9 if Florida needs him to.

— Matt Kiersted looked like the weakest link of the defensemen jockeying for roster spots. He made a key mistake late in the game, dumping a Lightning defender into Appleby to allow the Bolts to score the game-tying goal.

— Mikulas Hovorka brings size and physicality, but his skating is not all the way there yet. He got beat rather easily by faster wingers multiple times, including on the game-winning goal.