The first period was a physical one between the Tampa Bay Lightning and Florida Panthers. B.J. Crombeen and Keaton Ellerby dropped the gloves early in the period to establish the mood. Ellerby received extra time for the scrum, including a 10 minute misconduct. At 11:09 of the period, Vincent Lecavalier’s stick broke and gave way for a Steven Stamkos shot. Stamkos’ first shot did not go in, but his rebound did, giving the forward his first power play goal of the season.
15 seconds later, Panther’s forward Peter Mueller beat Lightning goalie Anders Lindback to tie the game at one. Then, after a flurry of offensive shots for Tampa Bay, the team saw rookie forward Cory Conacher’s shot go in at 12:49. Conacher fought off Mike Weaver to net his goal. Victor Hedman set up the play with a text book pass to Conacher. Stamkos now has points in all six of Tampa Bay’s game this season after scoring his power play goal in the first period.
