Last night one of the best rivalries in the modern NHL took place when the Florida Panthers and Tampa Bay Lightning took the ice. Two teams vying for a playoff spot with elite-level teams. In the heat of battle, tempers flared and led to chaos that even the referees could not handle. <h2>Tempers Flair Leading To Massive Brawl Between Two Rivals</h2> Late in the blowout win for the Florida Panthers last night a brawl of epic proportions occurred. After a shot on the net by the Lightning some pushing and shoving took place. This shoving led to fighting and eventually a melee. <div align='center'><blockquote class='twitter-tweet' data-lang='en'><a href='https://twitter.com/GinoHard_/status/1759015395405513108?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1759015395405513108%7Ctwgr%5E4ddf349102525593eb49d5402ffa65ba368e81cc%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.puckreporter.com%2Fnhl%2Fnews%2Freferees-lose-control-and-hand-out-120-penalty-minutes-on-one-play'> </a></blockquote></div> Due to the referees' inability to step in and break up the situation the fighting continued for several minutes. At one point a couple of the referees can be seen just standing back and watching as players throw hands at one another. Eventually, the referees would break things up and tally up the penalties. <h2>Referees Hand Out Over 100 Minutes In Penalties After Losing Control Of Game</h2> After the fighting stopped the referees got together and had to decide on penalties. In the end, 102 minutes of penalties were handed out due to the brawl. Within a minute another two 10-minute misconducts brought the total up to 122 penalty minutes in the last 3 minutes of the game. <div align='center' style='padding-top:20px;padding-bottom:20px;'><img src='https://i.marqueur.com/habsetlnh/i/photo/378571.webp' width='100%' border='0' alt='image' loading='lazy' defer /></div> While referees in the NHL have a very difficult job that no one should envy they could have handled this situation better. Their lack of ability to step in could've led to much more serious injuries potentially. Thankfully no one was hurt and we have a fantastic storyline for the next time these teams play. <a href='https://www.puckreporter.com/nhl/news/referees-lose-control-and-hand-out-120-penalty-minutes-on-one-play?fbclid=IwAR1zq_ss95YtJ8r_l91EHEBqNbQ0KV1eVJqgriG9xFlZv_trnk519_LrkVU' class='lien_marqueur' target='_blank' rel='noopener'>As Read On - Puck Reporter - Referees Lose Control And Hand Out 120 Penalty Minutes On One Play</a>