Johnson breaks tie in third period for Lightning in win against Panthers

TAMPA -- Tyler Johnson broke a tie in the third period, and the Tampa Bay Lightning defeated the Florida Panthers 5-3 at Amalie Arena on Sunday.

Johnson got inside position in front of the net and tipped a shot from Yanni Gourde on the power play to make it 4-3 at 10:56.
Brayden Point scored into an empty net with 15 seconds remaining for the 5-3 final.
"[The win] felt great," Tampa Bay goalie Curtis McElhinney said. "It was one of those games where there were a lot of shots early on and it allowed me to get in the game right away. They've got a great hockey team over there. They have made some nice additions in the offseason and they are certainly playing the right way. It was nice to be on the right side of that one tonight."
Gourde and Point each had a goal and an assist, and McElhinney made 29 saves for the Lightning (23-6-2), who have won four straight.
Carter Verhaeghe, Gustav Forsling and Patric Hornqvist scored for the Panthers (20-7-4), who are 5-2-0 in their past seven games. Sergei Bobrovsky made 19 saves.
"It's one of those games where you play these guys, it's going to be tight," Florida defenseman Keith Yandle said. "I really liked our effort. I thought we worked hard, we played hard for 60 minutes. Obviously, there are points in the game where you can learn from and get better from. I think we'll do that and move on."

It was the second of back-to-back games for each team. Florida defeated the Nashville Predators 2-0 on Saturday, when Tampa Bay defeated the Chicago Blackhawks 4-1.
The Lightning went 4-1-0 during a stretch of five games in seven days.
"It was tough mentally," Tampa Bay forward Alex Killorn said. "We knew coming into the season the games were going to be pretty compressed, but to play five in seven days ... we didn't even do that in the AHL, I think. Really happy with the way we battled through these five."
Verhaeghe gave the Panthers a 1-0 lead at 3:28 of the first period on a backhand from the slot.
Gourde tied it 1-1 at 4:00 on a follow of the initial shot from Barclay Goodrow.
Killorn chipped the puck past Bobrovsky off a deflection in front to give the Lightning a 2-1 lead at 11:23 of the second period.
Florida thought it tied the game when Frank Vatrano scored at 14:57, but Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper challenged for offside, and the goal was overturned after video review showed the puck left the Lightning zone at 14:25.
Forsling tied it 2-2 with a power-play goal at 18:24 with a slap shot from above the right face-off circle.
"We were head-to-head all game. I like the way we battled back," Verhaeghe said. "It's going to be a battle all year with these guys. They're a good team and they play physical. We matched that. No one is backing down here."
Mathieu Joseph put the Lightning ahead 3-2 at 5:22 of the third period when he scored on the rebound of Ross Colton's shot on a wraparound.
"The guys … they circled the wagon," Cooper said. "We kept inching away, and they kept coming back. There was no time to hang your head. In the end, our special teams got through, we killed off a couple of big [power plays] and scored one ourselves."

Hornqvist scored on the power play to tie it 3-3 at 6:25 with a redirection of a shot by Yandle.
"We had a great pace to start the game, played with great purpose," Panthers coach Joel Quenneville said. "Nice to see the power play get a couple. Still, we had looks later in the game that we could've gotten the puck to the net a little bit more."
Lightning defenseman Ryan McDonagh did not play after the first period because of a lower-body injury. Cooper did not have an update.
"[McDonagh] eats a lot of minutes for us," Killorn said. "But I was pretty happy with the way the guys stepped up. I saw [Cal Foote] playing great on the PK and filling that role, but all the [defensemen] as a collective had to step up because McDonagh plays so many minutes."
Video review at 1:57 of the third period confirmed the call on the ice that Panthers forward Anthony Duclair's one-handed shot on the rush did not cross the goal line. Duclair and Lightning forward Anthony Cirelli slid through the crease, with Cirelli pushing McElhinney into the net.
"I saw a couple of different angles on it, and just using common sense that the area where the puck appears in afterwards was vacant," Quenneville said. "And the next picture, the puck you can argue was still over the line. It's not conclusive, but there's no puck there when you see the area, and all of a sudden that same area … common sense says it has to be in the net."
NOTES: MacKenzie Weegar had his seven-game point streak end (one goal, eight assists). The streak tied Yandle's from Oct. 24-Nov. 11, 2018, for longest by a defenseman in Panthers history. … Verhaeghe has eight points (four goals, four assists) in the past seven games. … Panthers center Aleksander Barkov had two assists and has 10 points (five goals, five assists) in the past six games. … Florida went 4-for-5 on the penalty kill and is 18-for-19 (94.7 percent) in its past five games. … Point has six goals in his past eight games. … Lightning forward Steven Stamkos had his six-game point streak end (four goals, four assists).