Panthers' Paul Maurice Ejected After Wild Fights vs. Lightning

Paul Maurice started his Olympic break early.

The Florida Panthers head coach was tossed out of Thursday night's game against the Tampa Bay Lightning, in what was a wild, fight-filled affair. The Battle of Florida lived up to its name, and much more, as this game was one for the ages.

In the third period, the Lightning were walking away with it 4-0, and that's when things took a turn. Fights broke out at center ice, including a rematch between Panthers' Matthew Tkachuk, and Lightning's Brandon Hagel. This was the same two who dropped the gloves at the 4 Nations Faceoff, and two competitors who will be facing off at the Olympics in less than a week.

Not only did Hagel and Tkachuk have a spirited bout, J.J Moser and Anton Forsling dropped the mitts, and so too did Donovan Sebrango and Darren Raddysh. After all the fights concluded, Maurice was ejected off the Panthers' bench, and it wasn't exactly clear as day why it happened.

It could have to do with the Lightning being awarded a power play after all the bouts were over. All of the commotion started thanks to Tkachuk giving Nikita Kucherov a cheap shot, nowhere near the puck.

How the brawl started ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/AUtBgWBBLD

— Gino Hard (@GinoHard_) February 6, 2026

The Lightning ended up winning the contest 6-1, and both teams can enjoy some downtime during the Olympic break, while everyone else hopes there's some way these two teams meet in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Photo credit: James Guillory-Imagn Images