Kucherov Scores Twice As Lightning Shutout Panthers

SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) — The Florida Panthers will have to wait until the regular season to put on a good show for their home fans.

Nikita Kucherov scored twice and the Tampa Bay Lightning beat the Panthers 3-0 in a preseason game Thursday night at the BB&T Center in Sunrise, Florida.

Ondrej Palat also scored for Tampa Bay (4-1-0) and Evgeni Nabokov stopped 21 shots.

Roberto Luongo made 30 saves for the Panthers (0-3-2).

The Lightning went ahead 2-0 in the third period when Vladislav Namestnikov passed across to Kucherov in the right circle. His wrist shot got past Luongo on the stick side with 12:07 left. Kucherov added an empty-net goal with 1:10 left, also with an assist by Namestnikov.

Kucherov leads the Lightning with five preseason goals and Namestnikov now has a team-leading seven assists.

The Lightning went ahead 1-0 just 2:43 into the game when Palat backhanded the puck got past Luongo's glove from the right side.

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