It was a long night for the Bolts against the cross-state rivals.
Tampa Bay’s hot start was too good to be true as a breakaway Brandon Hagel goal put the Lightning up 1-0 just 24 seconds into the first period. It was all Panthers from there.
Matthew Tkachuck, Sam Bennett and Carter Verhaeghe led the frenzy with two goals apiece. While Andrei Vasilevskiy was pulled after the second period, Florida’s Sergei “Bobby” Bobrovsky was lights out in goal, stopping 25 of 27 shots.
The Bolts will look to turn things around at home against Ottawa Monday night.
Scoring Summary
1st Period
TBL 1, FLA 0
0:24 Brandon Hagel (20) – Anthony Cirelli
The Bolts jumped out to a fast start thanks to a smooth pass from Anthony Cirelli that hit Brandon Hagel in stride for the breakaway. Hagel went five-hole on Sergei Bobrovsky to light up the crowd at AMALIE early.
TBL 1, FLA 1
7:01 Brandon Montour (3) – Sam Bennett
Andrei Vasilevskiy caught a tough break when a shot from Brandon Montour was deflected by the Lightning’s Emil Lilleberg over Vasilevskiy’s blocker side and into the net.
FLA 2, TBL 1
12:28 Sam Bennett (12) – Matthew Tkachuck, Dmitry Kulikov
A three-on-two led to a quick dish from Matthew Tkachuck to Sam Bennett who lasered one past the glove of a diving Vasilevskiy.
FLA 3, TBL 1
17:44 Kevin Stenlund (9) – Mike Reilly, Brock Nelson
Kevin Stenlund took a loose puck off the boards straight to the net to beat Vasy with a pinpoint snapshot through traffic.
FLA 4, TBL 1
18:38 Gustav Forsling (9)
The game continued to slip away for the Bolts defense as Gustav Forsling fired the puck into a pile of traffic in front of the net and under Vasilevskiy. A goalie interference challenge by the Lightning was denied.
2nd Period
FLA 5, TBL 1
0:23 Matthew Tkachuck (19) – Aleksander Barkov, Brandon Montour - PPG
The Panthers wasted no time in pouring it on in the second with some nifty puck-work that led to a fast goal for Tkachuck on the power play.
FLA 6, TBL 1
1:37 Matthew Tkachuck – Carter Verhaeghe, Brandon Montour - PPG
Tkachuck nabbed his second goal of the game and 20th of the season on a deflected shot in front of the face of Vasilevskiy.
3rd Period
FLA 7, TBL1
1:05 Carter Verhaeghe (29) – Sam Bennett, Matthew Tkachuck
With Vasilevskiy out of the game, the Panthers insisted on scoring more points in the third period, as Verhaeghe rifled one past the glove side of Jonas Johansson.
FLA 8, TBL 1
1:55 Sam Bennett (13) – Evan Rodrigues, Anton Lundell – PPG
Another quick score for Florida as things began to hit the rails in the final frame.
FLA 9, TBL 1
4:09 Carter Verhaeghe (30) – Gustav Forsling, Sam Reinhart
Verhaeghe kept the foot on the gas with an easy chip past Johansson to make it 9-1.
FLA 9, TBL 2
10:51 Brayden Point (27) – Nikita Kucherov, Victor Hedman - PPG
Nikita Kucherov and Brayden Point connected on a power play goal for the devout fans left in the building.
