The holiday season was made a tad merrier for the Tampa Bay Lightning on Monday when the Bolts defeated the Florida Panthers 4-0 at Amerant Bank Arena to avenge a 4-2 loss to the Panthers on Sunday.
The Lightning have won five of their last six games and did not allow any even-strength goals in their two games against the Panthers.
“These are two teams that have battled it out. … we’ve played them more than probably double any other team we’ve played,” Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. “They’re the cross-state rivals, the last five Stanley Cups have been with these two teams in them. Anytime you get them together, it’s pretty entertaining.
Tampa Bay improved to 19-11-2 this season and now begins the NHL’s three-day holiday break. They resume play on Saturday at home against the New York Rangers.
Panthers take game one of home-and-home
Special teams proved to be the difference on Sunday at AMALIE Arena, as the Panthers scored once on the power play and had two shorthanded goals in a 4-2 victory.
Florida scored first on a Sam Reinhart power-play goal with 4:09 left in the first period before Nick Paul tied the game with 4.6 seconds on the clock. Paul snuck to the backdoor and buried a shot at the right post.
The Lightning were given a power-play 9:31 into the second period with the game tied, but back-to-back shorthanded goals from forwards AJ Greer and Eetu Luostarinen handed Florida the 3-1 lead.
"If you told me that we were going to limit Florida to zero 5-on-5 goals, minimal chances all night, I would have really liked our chances,” Cooper said postgame on Sunday. “But when you lose special teams 3-0, that's a hard one to bounce back from.”
Brayden Point pulled Tampa Bay within a goal of the visitors early in the third period, finding a bouncing puck near the offensive zone with speed before tucking the puck around the sprawling Florida goalie, Spencer Knight, on the forehand 3:26 into the final frame of hockey.
An empty-net goal from Reinhart sealed the final score as 4-2.
The shorthanded goals gave Florida the momentum on Sunday, a night in which Tampa Bay outscored the Panthers 2-0 at five-on-five.
“They’re a pressure team and they’re a skating team, and they don’t give you a lot of time and space. We knew that coming in five-on-five and on the power play, but they got the better of us tonight,” Point said.
Florida’s tight-checking defense and aggressive forecheck was on display on Sunday. Their aggressive nature on the penalty kill also helped them create the rare scoring chances while shorthanded.
“It is what it is. Hockey’s a game of bounces, a game of momentum, and they capitalized,” Tampa Bay defenseman Ryan McDonagh said. “It doesn’t matter what situation, you want to execute and give them credit, their kill was the difference…special teams was a deciding factor tonight, give them credit.”
Darren Raddysh had two assists to lead the Lightning on offense, while Andrei Vasilevskiy finished with 22 saves for the home team.
Knight earned the win for Florida, stopping 19 of 21 Lightning shots.
Ben’s Three Stars:
- Sam Reinhart, FLA (2 goals)
- Spencer Knight, FLA (19 saves, W)
- Darren Raddysh, TBL (2 assists)
Johansson shutout earns split
Jonas Johansson earned his first shutout of the year and the Lightning’s first since Nov. 16, stopping 36 Florida shots—including 18 in the second period—to help the visitors earn a split on the home-and-home before the holiday break.
The teams combined for 63 penalty minutes in a physical game, one that reignited the intensity from last season’s playoff series between the teams.
Chants of ‘Merry Christmas’ could be heard pouring from the Lightning locker room during postgame interviews to celebrate what the team called a physical, emotional win.
“It was a fun game,” captain Victor Hedman said. “Obviously a lot of emotions in the game, to come out with the win, get a shutout, it was a great Christmas gift for all of us in this room.”
A Nikita Kucherov backhand shot opened the scoring 6:56 into Monday’s game, and a Jake Guentzel shot from distance made it 2-0 less than three minutes later. A Mitchell Chaffee power-play goal in front of the net beat Florida goalie Sergei Bobrovsky and extended the home team’s lead to 3-0 with 3:36 left in the first period.
Johansson made numerous key stops on breakaways in the game, one in which Florida outshot the Lightning 28 to 14 across the final two periods. Johansson’s 36-save shutout was his first of the season. Johansson has won his last three starts and boasts a .966 save percentage in those games.
“I feel confident. I feel comfortable,” Johansson said. “And the team has been really solid in front of me, which makes my life easier. I think tonight the PK did an unbelievable job in the second period there, a lot of blocked shots and a lot of just simple, solid defensive plays. A really good team effort.”
Tampa Bay finished the night with a shortened roster after Nikita Kucherov was assessed a game misconduct penalty for kneeing late in the first period.
Tampa Bay was efficient on the penalty kill, erasing the extended power play on the major penalty before also limiting a 5-on-3 for the home team in the opening minutes of the second period. The Lightning penalty kill finished a perfect 4-for-4 less than 24 hours after allowing the shorthanded goals at home.
McDonagh played 5 minutes, 35 seconds shorthanded. The next closest Lightning player was Anthony Cirelli at 3:51.
“He seems to be ageless,” Cooper said of McDonagh. “He’s built a resume that is in his generation almost unparalleled. Maybe not in the point aspect of things, but in the defending aspect. He was a big part of our win tonight.”
Brandon Hagel capped the scoring with an empty-net goal in the third period, and he said the Lightning grew as a team with this week’s home-and-home.
“I think this team got closer today as a group,” Hagel said. “I can go down the list, we had 20 gamers out there. Everyone stuck together. We didn’t bend. One guy was in, we were all in, grew as a team. We knew we could look every single one of those guys in the eyes and I think we did that as a group. We went out there, continued to play our game and when things got chippy we were involved but smartly, and when the kill came, we killed it off.”
Entering the break, it’s one that won’t be forgotten soon.
“Just to watch everyone out there, too, just come together as a group. If you look back at this game, especially if we make that push to the playoffs, I think this is the game you can look back at and also this built momentum going forward. I think everyone grew as a player and everyone can tap the guy beside them and trust them after a game like this tonight. This is what grows teams.”
It’s the battle of Florida. It’s been going on for years, you’ve seen it when they were winning cups. It’s just two rivals going at it. These are the fun games.”
Ben’s Three Stars:
- Jonas Johansson, TBL (36-save shutout)
- Brandon Hagel, TBL (Goal, assist)
- Victor Hedman, TBL (2 Assists)
