RECAP: Panthers 2, Lightning 1 (OT)

TAMPA – Sandis Vilmanis found the back of the net just 15 seconds into overtime to lift the Florida Panthers to a 2-1 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning at Amalie Arena on Wednesday.

“We’re starting to see kind of some man strength come into his game,” head coach Paul Maurice said of Vilmanis, who’s 20 years old and preparing for his first pro season. “We’re excited about him. … He’s got a big shot. He does some things that are things that coaches don’t make better. They are what they are. He’s got a bunch of that.”

Even with the Lightning deploying a more-seasoned lineup, the Panthers did more than hold their own in the first period. Giving up just three shots on goal, the Panthers stood tall throughout the opening 20 minutes, including holding their ground on one penalty kill.

In the second period, Panthers rookie forward Josh Davies set off a powder keg when he laid out Lightning captain Victor Hedman with a clean hit in the neutral zone. Immediately after the booming blow, the 20-year-old was dragged down from behind by Nikita Kucherov.

Clearly overreacting to the perfectly legal check – one that Hedman bounced right back up from – the Lightning went after Davies again on his next shift. Zeroing in on the soon-to-be pro, fellow rookie Conor Geekie grabbed Davies from behind and landed several big blows.

For his antics, Geekie was received 19 penalty minutes, including a misconduct.

In between the two incidents, the Panthers, who were on the power play after Kucherov’s illegal takedown on Davies, broke the ice when Zac Dalpe took a nifty pass from Vilmanis and beat Andrei Vasilevskiy from distance to make it 1-0 at 3:30 of the second period.

“No fear,” Dalpe said of Davies. “I’ve loved his game since he came to Charlotte last year. He’s built like a vending machine. He puts his body on the line. I love the way he plays.”

Showing off their prowess on the penalty kill once again, the Panthers managed to keep their lead intact when they killed off an extended 4-on-3 power play for the Lightning. Calm, cool and collected between the pipes, Spencer Knight was particularly a rock on the kill.

Seeing the puck well all game long, Knight came up with another key save early in the third period when he stopped a laser of a shot from J.J. Moser to keep the Lightning off the board.

Knight finished the game with 26 saves.

“I thought it was a good preseason game,” Knight said. “Throughout camp, I’ve been focused on not thinking as much and just going out and playing. I think it starts in practice. Instead of trying to work on something or some specific thing, I’d just go out and play.”

After a big faceoff win in the offensive zone from Brayden Point, Kucherov pounced on the puck and evened by the score for the Lightning with a blistering one-timer to make it 1-1 at 15:27.

Wasting no time once the action got to overtime, Anton Lundell intercepted a pass and quickly went the other way. Knowing he wouldn’t have a clean breakaway, he then dropped the puck back to Vilmanis, who beat Vasilevskiy from in close to lock down the 2-1 win.

Overall, the youngsters looked very impressive for the Panthers.

“If we made a mistake on the ice, we knew why,” Maurice said. “That’s just a really big part of any team’s success – the structure. Even the NHL players we had in the lineup, it’s new to them. … The structure, I thought, was really good. Spencer Knight was really good.”

With only one preseason game remaining on their schedule until the points start to count, the defending Stanley Cup champion Panthers will now head to Videotron Centre in Quebec City for a neutral-site battle with the Los Angeles Kings on Saturday.