The annual holiday cliché of renowned sluggishness bit Tampa Bay Wednesday night, as a lively third period failed to overcome a slow start for the Bolts against the Panthers.
After a scoreless first two periods for the Lightning, Nikita Kucherov put a blocked shot past Sergi Bobrovsky to get the Bolts on the board. It was his milestone 300th goal of his career and his league-leading 58th point on the season.
Tampa Bay amped up the physicality in the third with an emphasis on the scrap as multiple Lightning players were sent to the box for roughing—even Steven Stamkos got in on the action, responding to a hit from Aaron Ekblad by dropping the gloves.
With the loss, the Bolts are now 17-14-5 with two games remaining in a three-game homestand. They’ll now host back-to-back games against the Rangers and Canadiens on Saturday and Sunday heading into the new year.
Scoring Summary
1st Period
FLA 1, TBL 0
4:16 Aaron Ekblad (1) - Gustav Forsling, Aleksander Barkov
The Panthers opened the scoring with a wrister through traffic from Aaron Ekblad off an offensive zone faceoff win. It was difficult to tell if the puck was deflected but it looked like a tough angle allowed the puck to sneak by the blocker side of Andrei Vasilevskiy.
2nd Period
FLA 2, TBL 0
1:24 Sam Reinhart (20) – Evan Rodrigues, Aleksander Barkov
Some nifty passing from Aleksander Barkov and Evan Rodrigues set up Sam Reinhart directly in front of the net for a quick snipe past Vasilevskiy. Florida went up by two as the Bolts work off the eggnog on offense.
3rd Period
FLA 2, TBL 1
0:29 Nikita Kucherov (24) - Victor Hedman, Nick Perbix
Nikita Kucherov’s 300th career goal was a big one, putting the Bolts on the board to bring Tampa Bay within one early in the third. Victor Hedman let one rip from deep and a blocked shot fell into Kucherov’s lap in the slot to put it past Sergei Bobrovsky.
FLA 3, TBL 1
3:10 Sam Reinhart (21) - Aleksander Barkov - SHG
Reinhart stayed hot with a shorthanded goal that hushes a livening Tampa Bay crowd. Reinhart’s second of the night extended his team-leading 42 points on the season.
FLA 3, TBL 2
3:31 Mikey Eyssimont (6) – Brandon Hagel - PPG
The Bolts' answered fast with a Mikey Eyssimont dart over the glove of Bobrovsky. Eyssimont quickly jumped on a blocked shot down the right side to keep things tight in the final frame.
