SUNRISE — Tampa Bay Lightning prospect Benjamin Rautiainen scored the decisive goal in the third round of the shootout Saturday night, lifting the Lightning to a 3-2 preseason victory over the Florida Panthers at Amerant Bank Arena and capping Tampa Bay’s exhibition schedule with a 2-1-1 record.
Rautiainen, 21, kicked the puck to himself and fired it inside the left post to claim the win — a move he said was entirely improvised. “Actually I’ve never done that,” Rautiainen said of the winning deke. “I tried to test it and it went in. I’m happy.”
The Lightning got on the board first when 24-year-old center Lucas Mercuri, making his preseason debut after working back from injury, roofed a one-timer over goalie Akira Schmid’s glove 8:50 into the first period. Nick Abruzzese fed Mercuri the pass at the bottom of the left circle. Mercuri finished with the goal, three hits and went 6-for-8 in the faceoff circle. “It’s nice to get it early,” Mercuri said. “What a play by Z and Vieler just holding the puck along the wall. It’s just outmuscling the guy, outworking them and that’s what we’re about here so it’s been good. It was nice to get one in.”
Florida answered with goals from Sandis Vilmanis, who tied it at 17:58 of the first period on a loose puck, and defenseman Matvei Shuravin, who threaded a point shot through traffic to put the Panthers up 2-1 at 2:03 of the second. Rautiainen then tied the game at 2-2 on a power-play one-timer off a Gage Goncalves pass with 7:02 remaining in the third. The Lightning went 1-for-6 on the man advantage; Florida’s penalty kill entered the night at 88.9% in the preseason.
Goalie Dennis Hildeby posted 20 saves for Tampa Bay in his first preseason win, while Max Crozier led the Lightning with 25:59 of ice time. Tampa Bay dominated the faceoff circle, winning 60% of draws, with Sam O’Reilly leading the way at 10 faceoff wins. Jeff Viel added an assist and a fight against Florida’s Sam Lafferty. Gage Goncalves and Conor Geekie also had assists.
“Finished on a good note,” Viel said of the preseason finale. “It’s always nice to get the win, and I thought we played a good 60 (minutes) today.”
Panthers head coach Paul Maurice, whose club finished the preseason 2-0-2, said training camp produced results despite the loss. “The guys that came in to compete for jobs, even if there aren’t any jobs to start with, made their case,” Maurice said. “Maybe one or two surprises, but I’ll kind of keep that to myself because I’m not sure they’re starting with us anyway. So, some good positive things in that. It (training camp) was good. They went hard for two weeks.”
Schmid, who appeared in a career-high 34 games with the Vegas Golden Knights last season and signed with Florida as a free agent this past summer, made a key stop on a Goncalves breakaway in overtime. “Thirty is good too, but it doesn’t compare to the sixty minutes, you know,” Schmid said. “You don’t get touches [when you don’t play a full game]. You don’t get a start either, you know, so that that definitely was good before the season starts.”
Lightning head coach Jon Cooper called it the most competitive training camp he has seen in some time. “This was the most competitive camp we’ve had in quite some time since I’ve been here, and it was a pleasure to be around all the kids and the guys that aren’t with us anymore,” Cooper said. “This was a different camp, and it’s impressive some of the players that Julien and our scouting staff have brought in here without wheeling around some high picks that we haven’t had.”
Tampa Bay opens the 2026-27 regular season Thursday at 7 p.m. against the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden. The Panthers open Tuesday against the Carolina Hurricanes. “We’re well rested,” Maurice said. “We got a little bit of a summer off, so the regular season is exciting for us now, maybe for the first time in a few years. So, it’ll be a great one.”