"Our effort is there," Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov said. "We battle, we play hard, and we give everything we have. Obviously, in the last games it's been some of those decisions we've made with the puck and without the puck that cost us a lot of goals and a lot of momentum. But the effort's there. We need to stay positive. It's a long season. We had a really good start."
After coming up short on a few great looks early in the first period, the Panthers fell behind 1-0 when Pat Maroon banged home a cross-ice feed from Ross Colton on the power play at 12:27.
In the second period, some bad blood spilled over when Brayden Point tripped Patric Hornqvist after the two looked to have some words along the boards. In the brawl that ensued, Hornqvist unleashed a flurry of punches, but Point stayed upright and both players headed to the box.
Not long after the fight, Victor Hedman then doubled the lead for the Lightning when fired a long rebound past Sergei Bobrovsky from far to the left of the cage to make it a 2-0 contest at 9:02.
But then in the span of just 36 seconds, the Panthers finally got their momentum swing.
After Jonathan Huberdeau sniped a shot past Andrei Vasilevskiy to slice the deficit down to 2-1 at 12:59, Eetu Luostarinen tipped in a shot from Aaron Ekblad to suddenly make it 2-2 at 13:35.
Helping provide that spark, Huberdeau was put on a line with Barkov before his goal.
"I think it was good for the group that we stuck with it," Panthers Interim Head Coach Andrew Brunette said. "We didn't try to make it 2-2 in one shift. We did the right things and we got rewarded. They should feel good about that. I thought they did a lot of the right things."
During the third period, the goals dried up for both teams as Bobrovsky and Vasilevskiy put on a goaltending clinic. In a battle between former Vezina Trophy winners, Bobrovsky stopped nine shots over the final 20 minutes of regulation, while Vasilevsky made seven saves of his own.
"They're a good team," Barkov said of the Bolts. "They're a really good test for us, for sure. I think we have a really good rivalry going on. Both teams want to win really bad. You see on the ice, every inch is important, every shot is dangerous. It's a lot of fun to play these games."
Playing past regulation for the fifth time in their last eight games, the Panthers then had a few good looks in overtime before Point eventually buried a backhand shot on a breakaway at 2:13 to lock in the 3-2 win for the Lightning, who improved their record to 7-3-3 on the campaign.
Overall, Florida has earned points in 13 of 15 games out of the gate.
"This group competes," Brunette said of the team's strong effort in defeat. "I'm proud of the way they bring it every night and compete every night. Can we be a little bit smarter at different times? Yes, absolutely. We still have things to work on, but we work and we compete."
Here are five takeaways from Saturday's loss in Tampa Bay…