Panthers Have Goal Overturned Against Lightning for Extremely Rare Reason

The Tampa Bay Lightning and Florida Panthers have one of the NHL's best current rivalries, and with the regular season just days away, we saw the Battle of Florida once again in the pre-season.

While the game was intense, it was incredibly one-sided, with the Panthers coming away winners 7-0 in their final pre-season matchup before the 2025/26 campaign officially begins on Tuesday.

The game ended in absolute chaos however, as there were 312 penalty minutes and an incredible 16 ejections from the game, showing that pre-season, regular season or Stanley Cup Playoffs, these two teams are going to do battle at 100% intensity no matter what.

Perhaps the most surprising thing to come of all this was the Panthers eight goal being disallowed, and while that happens in hockey all the time, the reason for this one is absolutely shocking.

For potentially the first time in NHL history, the Panthers goal was disallowed because a player involved in the goal had already been ejected prior in the game. Niko Mikkola, said player, remained in the game to help on the goal despite being expected to be in the locker room.

Fans in the comments made it clear that this was something they'd never seen before, blaming the officials, rather than the player for staying on the ice and being allowed to continue in the game.

Ultimately, it's very rare that we see a game with 16 ejections, but as a result, we saw something we've never seen in the pre-season, and when these teams matchup in the regular season, it's bound to be chaos.