TAMPA – Even in the preseason, the Battle of Florida is, well, a battle.

In a game that featured a whopping 186 combined penalty minutes, the Florida Panthers suffered a 5-2 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning at Benchmark International Arena on Thursday.

“Just some old friends getting reacquainted,” head coach Paul Maurice said. “There’s a lot of passion and leftover memories that go into those games. I don’t know if I can assess the game. It happens. That’s usually a good time to get the cobwebs out.”

As always, the Battle of Florida got physical early.

The first of a few feisty altercations in the first period between the two bitter in-state rivals, A.J. Greer ignited a brawl when he took a piece out of Lightning forward Brandon Hagel.

On the penalty kill for much of the first period,

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