Panthers defeat Lightning in OT in Game 3, get first win of series

TAMPA -- Ryan Lomberg scored at 5:56 of overtime to give the Florida Panthers a 6-5 win against the Tampa Bay Lightning in Game 3 of the Stanley Cup First Round at Amalie Arena on Thursday.

Following a face-off win in Florida's defensive zone, Radko Gudas lofted the puck to Frank Vatrano. He sent a lead pass through two Lightning defenders to Lomberg, who beat Andrei Vasilevskiy with a backhand.
"Frank made a nice play advancing the puck behind their [defensemen], and I was in alone," Lomberg said. "It was a great play all around. Good execution."
Tampa Bay leads the best-of-7 series with Game 4 here Saturday (12:30 p.m. ET; CNBC, SN, TVAS2, BSSUN, BSFL).
The Lightning scored five goals in the second period and led by two entering the third before the Panthers tied it 5-5 on Gustav Forsling's shot from the high slot at 16:53.
"You're not going to win 16 games and not lose any (in the Stanley Cup Playoffs). It's a process," Lightning defenseman Victor Hedman said. "We're obviously not happy with the way we played the third period. But you're going to get ups and downs during a playoff series and it's how you respond as a group."

Chris Driedger allowed five goals on 22 shots for Florida, the No. 2 seed in the Discover Central Division, before being replaced by Sergei Bobrovsky to start the third period. Bobrovsky saved all nine shots he faced, and Jonathan Huberdeau had three assists.
"After the second period a couple guys stepped up," Bobrovsky said. "This team has tremendous ability to come back, it doesn't matter how much of a deficit we have. It's one of those games we get together, one at a time, and we pulled out a W. It's a big win for us."
Hedman had three assists, and Vasilevskiy made 41 saves for Tampa Bay, the No. 3 seed and defending Stanley Cup champion.
Panthers defenseman Keith Yandle was a healthy scratch, missing his first game since March 22, 2009, with the Phoenix Coyotes. His streak of 979 regular-season and playoff games ended two behind Arizona Coyotes forward Phil Kessel for the longest in NHL history.
Sam Bennett gave the Panthers a 1-0 lead at 4:31 of the first period, and Gudas extended the lead to 2-0 at 7:05.
Anthony Cirelli cut it to 2-1 at 1:57 of the second period on the rebound of a shot by Hedman. Ross Colton tied it 2-2 at 5:46 with a wrist shot from the right face-off circle for his first NHL playoff goal.
Steven Stamkos put the Lightning ahead 3-2 with a chip-in off a pass from Ryan McDonagh at 8:38.
Alex Wennberg tied it 3-3 at 12:34 with a power-play goal from the top of the right circle with Owen Tippett setting a screen.
"We were in a good spot after the first period, 2-0, and we do that in the second period," Panthers forward Jonathan Huberdeau said. "We just have to be smarter with decisions, play our game. We had to assess that after the second, not panic, but you don't want to go down 3-0 in the series, and the guys answered the bell in the third period, worked hard and it's a huge comeback for us."
The Lightning regained the lead on Brayden Point's power-play goal at 14:17 to make it 4-3, and Alex Killorn scored on the power play at 18:17 to push it to 5-3.
"It's a series," Killorn said. "Luckily we've been in a lot of these series before. We knew they were going to give us their best effort. They played well tonight, but like I said, it's a series and there's plenty of hockey to be played."

Patric Hornqvist scored on the power play at 1:45 of the third to cut it to 5-4.
"Couldn't be more proud with the way the guys competed in the third as a team," Panthers coach Joel Quenneville said. "Look at what could have happened and where we would have been at, and now all of a sudden the picture changes completely in a short amount of time."
The Lightning were 28-0-0 this season when leading after two periods, including the first two games of the series.
"Credit to them," Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper said. "It'd be disappointing if they didn't push, facing the fact they could've gone down 0-3. And we could've done a better job making ourselves be going up 3-0. But I don't think anyone expected this to be a sweep. I think people expected this to be a really good series, and it has been."
NOTES: Yandle has played 922 consecutive regular-season games, the second-longest streak in NHL history, behind Doug Jarvis (964). He had never missed a playoff game, playing 57. Kessel has an active streak of 981 (Nov. 3, 2009 to May 8, 2021) that includes 900 consecutive regular-season games. … The Panthers were 5-11-2 in the regular season when trailing after two periods and 11-5 in overtime. ... Gudas scored his first playoff goal (23 games). ... Cirelli scored his first goal in 29 games. ... Lightning forward Nikita Kucherov got an assist on Point's goal for his 100th playoff point (38 goals, 62 assists) in 93 games.