5 TAKEAWAYS: Panthers 'show grit' in streak-snapping loss to Lightning

SUNRISE, Fla. - After nearly a month, the Panthers have finally lost a game.
In an intense matchup between cross-state rivals that featured a multitude of both goals and penalty minutes, the Atlantic Division champion Panthers saw their franchise-record winning streak snapped at 13 games with an 8-4 loss to the Lightning at FLA Live Arena on Sunday.
Sitting atop the NHL standings with a record of 57-16-6, the Panthers, who will close out their regular season with three games on the road, won 34 of the 41 games they played at home.

"It would've been nice to finish on a high note at home, but unfortunately it didn't happen tonight," Panthers interim head coach Andrew Brunette said. "I think we gave [the fans] a lot of great memories during the regular season, and now it's time to build them in the playoffs."
Connecting on their first shot of the game, the Lightning raced out to an early lead when Nikita Kucherov roofed a shot over Spencer Knight's shoulder to make it 1-0 at 2:37 of the first period.
Moments after having a goal taken off the board for goaltender inference, the Panthers left no doubt the second time around when Sam Reinhart took a pass from Anton Lundell and wired a shot straight over Andrei Vasilevsky's glove and into the back of the cage to make it 1-1 at 4:31.
Setting up shop in usual spot in the center of the left circle on the power play, Steven Stamkos put the Lightning back up when he blasted home a one-timer to make it 2-1 at 6:44. A little bit later, Cal Foote finished off a tic-tac-toe passing sequence with a goal to make it 3-1 at 14:58.
Feeding off a great forecheck from the fourth line, Brandon Montour cut into the deficit for the Panthers when he fired off a heavy slap shot from the point that cruised past Vasilevskiy, who was blinded by a huge screen from Patric Hornqvist, and into the net to make it 3-2 at 17:28.
Getting the game all square once again just 59 seconds into the second period, Mason Marchment flew down the ice and tapped a dribbling puck past Vasilevskiy to make it 3-3.
Making a highlight-reel move to regain the lead for the Lightning, Nick Paul took a backdoor pass from Brandon Hagel and beat Knight with a between-the-legs goal from in front to make it 4-3 at 5:28. Not done there, Paul then scored again at 12:59 to increase the advantage to 5-3.
Following that second goal from Paul, Sergei Bobrovsky relieved Knight in Florida's net.
"I thought we did a lot of good things and kind of self-inflicted in a few different areas," Brunette said. "Hey, it happens. I thought our 5-on-5 play was really [good]. The tail end of some power plays got us in a little bit of trouble."
With no love lost between rivals, Sam Bennett and Mikael Sergachev dropped the gloves later in the middle frame - the first of two fights that would take place throughout the contest -- with the Panthers center leaving the Lightning defensemen bloodied following the very heated brawl.
"I'm happy with the way our team stuck together there," Marchment said. "No one's going to push us around now or ever. I think that was one thing we're going to take out of this [game]."
Cashing in on the power play second time, Brayden Point scored to send the Lightning ahead 6-3 at 3:34 of the third period. But less than four minutes later, Reinhart answered with a power-play goal of his own for the Panthers to get the deficit back down to two and make it 6-4 at 7:04.
After Kucherov struck again to up Tampa Bay's advantage to 7-4 at 11:36, Stamkos followed suit with his second goal on the power play to make it 8-4 with just 3:26 remaining in regulation.
Facing off for the final time this season, the Cats finish with a 2-1-1 record against the Bolts.
"We got in a little penalty trouble, and they scored on the power play," Brunette said. "They're a great power-play team. We know that going in, but it's a hockey game. We showed our resilience, we showed our grit and didn't back down. We fought through adversity, outside influences, and we played our game."
Here are five takeaways from Sunday's loss to Tampa Bay…

1. REINO REACHES 30

Welcome to the 30-goal club, Reino.
Hitting a nice milestone for the first time in his career, Reinhart garnered his career-high 30th goal of the season when he beat Vasilevsky with a quick shot to make it 1-1 in the first period. Striking again in the third period, he buried his 15th power-play goal to trim the deficit to 6-4.

"That's huge," Reinhart said. "I don't think anyone wants to finish at 19, 29, 39, 49, whatever it is. I don't think anyone wants that. Any time you can reach that even number is a nice step."
Accumulating 14 points (seven goals, seven assists) over his last 10 games, Reinhart has increased his career-high point total to 79 on 31 goals and 48 assists. With three games still left to do some damage on offense, his 15 power-play goals are the sixth-most in franchise history.
Reinhart is the fourth Panther to score at least 30 goals this season.

2. MONTY SCORES AGAIN

It's been quite a 48 hours for Montour.
After netting the game-winning goal during Saturday's 3-2 overtime win over the Maple Leafs, the dynamic D-man struck again in tonight's tilt when he locked, loaded and fired a slap shot past a heavily-screened Vasilevsky to cut Florida's deficit down to 3-2 late in the first period.

Third in scoring among Panthers defensemen, Montour has set new career-highs in goals (11), assists (26) and points (37) this season. Performing well in the possession battle, Florida led 28-11 in shot attempts and 17-7 in scoring chances when he was out on the ice at 5-on-5 tonight.
Over his last nine games, Montour has tallied two goals and eight assists.

3. MARCHY STAYS HOT

The puck always seems to be in the vicinity of No. 17.
After Claude Giroux deflected a stretch pass up the ice, Marchment tracked down the rolling rubber and tapped it past Vasilevskiy from in front to make it a 3-3 game in the second period.

"I don't think anyone's ever happy with losing, especially in this locker room," Marchment said. "I think, for us, just put this one behind us and move on to the next."
Pushing his point streak to three games, Marchment has notched two goals and three assists during that run. Operating at nearly a point-per-game pace, the hard-nosed forward has posted new career-highs in goals (18), assists (29) and points (47) through 53 games this campaign.
But after scoring twice in the playoffs last year, he's itching for the real season to begin.
"It's my favorite time of year," Marchment said of the postseason. "I love winning. I love competing. It's going to be exciting. I'm ready to go."

4. SPECIAL TEAMS BATTLE

It felt like half this game revolved around special teams.
In the end, the Lightning came out on top in that battle. While Florida went 1-for-6 on the power play, the Tampa Bay not only went 3-for-7 with the extra attacker, but also struck while shorthanded on Paul's nifty goal in the second period.

"Special teams, we lost that battle pretty glaringly tonight," Reinhart said.
Even though they came up short against Tampa Bay, the Panthers have converted on 30% of their power plays in April.

5. STRONG AT EVEN STRENGTH

If it wasn't for all that time on special teams, the end result might have been different.
Taking a look at the numbers over at NaturalStatTrick.com, the Panthers finished the game with sizeable advantages over the Lightning in shot attempts (59-40), scoring chances (31-23), high-danger shot attempts (12-6) and expected goals (2.64-2.28) when the action was at 5-on-5.
"You can only go to the well so many times, and tonight it ran out," Brunette said. "There are some things we've got to shore up, but I love the way our group competes. Even on a night when you can take it off, we didn't take the night off."
At 5-on-5 this season, Florida ranks fourth in the NHL with a 56.67 xGF% at home.
"It's been huge right from the start," Reinhart said of that home-ice advantage. "We feel comfortable here. Our fans really help us out. Any time you can get that advantage, it's a nice thing to have."