The turning point of this game occurred at the halfway point of the second period when the Panthers broke open a 1-1 contest with two shorthanded goals during the same penalty kill. Although Brayden Point cut the deficit to one early in the third period, Florida limited the Lightning’s chances the rest of the way and secured the victory in the front end of this home-and-home set.
Up until the shorthanded goals, this was an evenly played, high-intensity, tight-checking game. In the first period, the Lightning generated more of the dangerous looks, but Spencer Knight made tremendous stops on in-alone shots from Conor Geekie, Point, and Nick Paul. Paul did convert in the closing seconds of the frame, however, finishing from the top of the crease. Paul’s tally tied the game. The Panthers had opened the scoring with a Sam Reinhart deflection goal at 15:51 during a Florida power play.
Scoring chances were harder to come by in the opening half of the second period. The Lightning failed to record a shot during their first man-advantage chance, which came at 6:58 of the second. Less than three minutes later, they received their ill-fated second power-play opportunity.
The Panthers entered the game leading the NHL with eight shorthanded goals, and they added to their total. Both goals came off Lightning turnovers while Tampa Bay attempted to move the puck into the offensive zone. The first miscue happened just inside the offensive blue line. A.J. Greer and Tomas Nosek countered on a two-on-one rush. Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped Nosek’s shot, but Greer slipped the rebound from the right circle between Vasilevskiy and the near-side post at 10:28. As the power play continued, the Lightning sent out the second unit. Less than a minute later, Eetu Luostarinen stole the puck at center ice and finished on a breakaway at 11:10.
After allowing two shorthanded goals on the same power play, the Lightning struggled to gain momentum for the rest of the middle stanza. They regrouped during the intermission, however, and came out well to begin the third. Knight made a point-blank stop on Nikita Kucherov in the opening minute. Soon after, Point accepted a cross-ice pass from Jake Guentzel in the neutral zone and sped into the offensive end. He skated past the Florida defense and went wide on Knight before tucking in a forehand shot at 3:26.
The Lightning battled to create other Grade-A looks, but the Panthers played a smart, sound, structured game. Florida killed off one more penalty midway through the frame to preserve the lead and eventually sealed things when Reinhart tallied an empty-netter in the final minute.
It was a close contest, one that was decided on special teams. The Lightning did well to keep the Panthers off the board during five-on-five play. But Florida won the special-teams battle, 3-0.
Lightning Radio Three Stars of the Game (as selected by Phil Esposito):
- Spencer Knight — Panthers. 19 saves.
- Sam Reinhart — Panthers. Two goals.
- Nick Paul — Lightning Goal.
