Andrei Vasilevskiy turned in arguably his best performance of the season to lead the Lightning to a 5-3 victory over the Panthers in South Florida on Saturday night.
Every single one of Vasilevskiy’s 47 saves was needed, as despite building a 4-0 lead, wave after wave of pressure from Florida allowed them to chip away at Tampa Bay’s lead.
The Bolts would hang on, however, and pick up a third-consecutive victory to begin this five-game road trip on a positive note.
The trip now heads west for the final four games. Another tough test awaits the Lightning on Tuesday when they visit the defending Stanley Cup Champion Golden Knights in Vegas.
Scoring Summary1st Period
TBL 1, FLA 0
0:20 Steven Stamkos (26) – Erik Cernak
In the opening minute of the game, a 2-on-1 materialized for Tampa Bay. Steven Stamkos tried to play the puck across Brandon Hagel on his left, but the puck deflected off Brandon Montour’s skate and wound up in the Florida net.
TBL 2, FLA 0
13:21 Mikey Eyssimont (10) – Nick Perbix, Erik Cernak
Patrolling the far blue line, Mikey Eyssimont was able to scoop up a clearing attempt and create a breakaway chance. Sergei Bobrovsky denied the initial shot with his pad, but Eyssimont stayed with the play as he skated by and jammed the rebound through the goaltender’s five-hole.
2nd Period
TBL 3, FLA 0
3:02 Darren Raddysh (5) – Anthony Duclair, Steven Stamkos
Just inside the blue line, Anthony Duclair pulled up and found Darren Raddysh trailing on the rush. Raddysh skated to the right circle and picked out the top corner with a wrist shot to extend the Lightning’s lead to three.
TBL 4, FLA 0
6:59 Steven Stamkos (27) – Victor Hedman, Nikita Kucherov – PPG
A major penalty on Dmitry Kulikov followed by a hooking penalty on Oliver Ekman-Larsson gave the Bolts a lengthy 5-on-3 chance. However, eight seconds into the two-man advantage, Victor Hedman teed up Stamkos for a heavy one-timer from the left circle to make it 4-0.
TBL 4, FLA 1
8:23 Matthew Tkachuk (22) – Josh Mahura – SHG
Seconds before Kulikov’s major was set to expire, four Lightning skaters got caught deep in the offensive zone as the Panthers skated in the opposite direction on a 3-on-1. Matthew Tkachuk wristed a shot past Andrei Vasilevskiy to get Florida on the board.
TBL 4, FLA 2
11:55 Sam Reinhart (47) – Sam Bennett, Matthew Tkachuk – PPG
The Bolts had their lead trimmed to two on a power play goal from Sam Reinhart. From the point, Tkachuk fired a shot into a crowd in front of the Lightning net, and the rebound popped free for Reinhart to tuck home.
3rd Period
TBL 4, FLA 3
16:08 Sam Reinhart (48) – Unassisted
The Lightning misplayed the puck behind their net and Reinhart pounced, turning the puck over and scoring from a sharp angle before Vasilevskiy could get back to his crease.
TBL 5, FLA 3
18:28 Nikita Kucherov (40) – Brandon Hagel, Steven Stamkos – ENG
After some tense moments down the stretch, Nikita Kucherov relieved the pressure with an empty net goal that marks his 40th of the season.
