One player that stuck out in the opening 20 minutes was Cole Koepke, who potted 20 goals in 69 games with the Syracuse Crunch last season in his first full year of professional hockey. Koepke had the Lightning's best chance in the opening half of the first period when he drove hard to the net but was denied in close.
Additionally, when Tampa Bay was on the penalty kill near the halfway point of the first, Koepke got the puck deep into the Florida zone and did a terrific job to pin the puck in the corner and kill some penalty time. In total, Koepke wiped nearly 15 seconds off the penalty with four different Panthers working to steal the puck.
The Lightning made it out of the first period with the score tied at zero, despite being shorthanded twice.
"It was just a little messy," said Jaydon Dureau. "That (the penalties) kind of just took away from our momentum.
"We got it built up at times and then got frustrated and took a couple penalties here and there. It just ruins the flow of the game a little bit."
Dureau made his 2022 Showcase debut for Tampa Bay on Sunday and showcased some soft hands with a few nice moves in the offensive zone.
"It's always good to get those under the belt," Dureau added. "Personally, I thought I did pretty good.
"We talk about compete and bringing an identity to ourselves. For our team, I think a lot of guys showed that tonight. I think we just kind of struggled offensively with putting pucks in the net."
The Bolts got out to a 1-0 lead early in the second period when Goncalves did a nice job to gain entry into the offensive zone before dishing a pass off to Finley, who ripped a wrist shot top shelf to give his team the lead.
Following the goal, Tyson Feist dropped the gloves for the third Lightning fight through two games and landed some solid uppercuts for the decision. But it was Florida who would use the fight to gain some momentum with Ethan Burroughs scoring just 2:57 later with a wrist shot from the slot to tie the game at one.
