SUNRISE, Fla. -- Niko Mikkola had an assist on a goal that gave the Florida Panthers an 8-0 lead. Problem was, he'd been kicked out of the game a few minutes earlier and nobody noticed.

It was that kind of night between the Panthers and the Tampa Bay Lightning .

Florida defeated Tampa Bay 7-0 in the preseason finale for both clubs Saturday night, though the score was irrelevant. There were 65 penalties for 312 minutes on the stat sheet, including 13 game misconduct penalties -- seven for Tampa Bay, six for Florida. The penalty count kept rising after the game, while officials were making sure everything that was called got logged.

"I have no idea," Florida coach Paul Maurice said, when asked what message Tampa Bay was trying to send with their style of play. "I'm not worried abo

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