Tampa Bay Lightning forward Curtis Douglas was fined $2,018.23 Friday for serving as the aggressor in his team’s latest melee with the archrival Florida Panthers.

The NHL issued the maximum allowable fine to Douglas for fighting an unwilling opponent, Panthers defenseman Niko Mikkola, in the third period of the Lightning’s 6-1 home victory Thursday night.

Douglas was retaliating for Mikkola’s earlier unprovoked hit on Lightning superstar Nikita Kucherov, which helped trigger a line brawl.

Douglas’ five-minute fighting major and 10-minute misconduct contributed to a whopping game total of 147 penalty minutes. Lightning defenseman J.J. Moser was ejected in the third period along with Panthers defenseman Gustav Forsling and head coach Paul Maurice.

A 6-foot-9 rookie enforcer, Douglas ranks fifth in the league with 92 penalty minutes in just 29 appearances. He fought Florida’s Luke Kunin when the Lightning beat the Panthers 4-2 in their previous meeting on Dec. 27, another rough game that produced 136 penalty minutes.

Tampa Bay claimed Douglas off waivers from the Utah Mammoth in October.

Thursday’s game was the last for both teams before the three-week Olympic break.

Winners of 19 of their last 21, the Lightning co-lead the Eastern Conference with 78 points, while the Panthers have 61 points and are eight back of a playoff spot.

–Field Level Media

Nick Boyd’s production is helping Wisconsin position itself nicely in the Big Ten standings while Lamar Wilkerson’s impressive output has not been enough for Indiana to climb out of the middle of the pack.

Two of the conference’s top scorers oppose each other when Boyd and Wisconsin visit Wilkerson and Indiana on Saturday afternoon in Bloomington, Ind.

Boyd’s 20.0 points per game are fourth in the conference and nine of his 13 games with at least 20 points have come in conference play. The Badgers (16-6, 8-3 Big Ten) are 10-3 when Boyd scores at least 20 and he is coming off consecutive 21-point showings in home wins over Ohio State and Minnesota last week that required comebacks.

Boyd shot 6-of-15 in last Saturday’s 92-82 win over Ohio State as the Badgers overcame an early nine-point deficit.

John Blackwell, who led the Badgers with 22 points, is eighth in the conference at 18.5 points per game. He was among five in double figures during Wisconsin’s ninth game with at least 90 points to date.

Coming off its long layoff, Wisconsin is tied with Purdue for fifth in the standings and is about to start a stretch where five of seven games are on the road. The Badgers visit No. 5 Illinois on Tuesday and host No. 10 Michigan State three days later.

“I think it was good just to come up for air a little bit,” Badgers coach Greg Gard said. “We’ve been in a pretty consistent routine of game, practice, practice, game. And I think just giving our guys a chance to get a day to relax a little bit and then also work on ourselves here.”

Indiana (15-8, 6-6) won three consecutive games by beating Rutgers, Purdue and UCLA following a four-game slide. The Hoosiers were unable to stay above .500 in league play when they shot 41.3% in Tuesday’s 81-75 loss at Southern California.

Wilkerson scored 33 points for his second-highest total this season while Tucker DeVries continued his slump. DeVries is averaging 13.7 points but shooting 32.8% from 3-point range and was a combined 3-of-17 from the floor over the past two games.

“I didn’t think we had the same juice and energy to start the game,” coach Darian DeVries said on the Indiana radio network after his team allowed 80 points for the seventh time this season. “As we started going, we never could get into sync. Every time we clawed back in it, we could never get enough stops to sustain anything.”

–Field Level Media

No. 15 Vanderbilt looks to extend its three-game winning streak against visiting Oklahoma — losers of nine straight — in Nashville, Tenn. on Saturday afternoon.

The Commodores (19-3, 6-3 Southeastern Conference) had a needed week off after a 71-68 home win over Ole Miss. Tyler Tanner led all scorers with 24 points, AK Okereke tied a season high in scoring (17) and Mike James established season highs with nine points and nine rebounds off the bench.

“I knew we weren’t coming into this game at our best,” coach Mark Byington said afterwards. “Injuries, illnesses, fatigue, just a lot of things going on. Ole Miss fought really hard and we knew they were going to play that way. We just had to figure out somehow, some way, to be able to win that way.”

The Sooners (11-12, 1-9) come off a 94-78 loss at Kentucky on Wednesday. Xzayvier Brown’s 21 points led the Sooners, who allowed 1.44 points per possession (per Ken Pomeroy) while being outrebounded, 41-25.

“It’s … physicality, size,” coach Porter Moser said when asked about the rebounding differential. “We battled back. I think we cut (the lead) to eight at one point and then they got two or three offensive rebounds. When you’re trying to cut (the lead) those are just daggers, when you’re trying to get a stop and can’t finish the play with a rebound.”

Vanderbilt has been burdened by absences to guards Duke Miles (16.6 ppg) and Frankie Collins (7.8); Miles likely won’t play Saturday while Collins’ status is uncertain.

The Commodores have been hampered by illness — Jalen Washington (8.9 ppg) threw up in warm-ups last Saturday and played through it at less than full strength, while leading rebounder Devin McGlockton (6.8) had a season-low two points in 26 minutes.

Vanderbilt ranks 31st nationally in average offensive possession length (15.9 seconds) per Pomeroy, but played its slowest-tempo game of the year (64 possessions) against Ole Miss. The game before, the Commodores slowed the pace to a crawl in the second half of an 80-55 win over Kentucky to rest Tanner, who has played at least 33 minutes in every league game.

The Sooners take care of the ball (10 turnovers per game, ranked 35th in Division I) and have capable scoring threats in Brown (16.4 ppg), Nigel Pack (15.8), Tae Davis (12.7) and Derrion Reed (11.9). But they’ve leaked defensively, allowing 79 points or more in their last eight games.

Pack, a sixth-year player, had scored 22, 23 and 25 in Oklahoma’s previous four games before scoring just six on eight shots in Lexington.

The Commodores would like more from Tyler Nickel (14.5) than the five points (which tied a season low) he had against Ole Miss, which snapped a nine-game double-digit scoring streak. He’s had a pair of games in which he hit eight 3-pointers this season.

Vanderbilt is 14th in the latest NET rankings, and has a 6-3 mark in Quad 1. It drew a four-seed in Joe Lunardi’s projected NCAA tournament field of Feb. 3. Oklahoma (85th) is a Quad 3 opponent.

This is one of just four remaining home games for Vanderbilt. The Commodores are in a fourth-place tie in the SEC’s overall standings behind leaders Florida and Texas A&M (7-2).

–Field Level Media