For the briefest of seconds it looked like the Tampa Bay Lightning tied the game just before the final horn sounded. Following a face-off win Victor Hedman snapped a shot from the slot that eluded Sergei Bobrovsky. Unfortunately, it didn’t get past the right post, and with a sea of humanity clustered around him, the Florida Panthers goaltender was able to fall on the puck before it was pushed across the goal-line. With that effort, the Panthers held on to the 2-1 lead, bringing the Lightning’s eight-game winning streak to an end.
Brayden Point had the lone goal for the Bolts while Aleksander Barkov had both goals for the Panthers. Bobrovsky won the goaltender duel with 28 saves while Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 27 of 29. The glaring number on the stat sheet was the 0-for-7 the Lightning went on the power play. It’s tough to win in the NHL when a team fritters away seven chances, including a full, four-minute double-minor. Florida went 1-for-3, with Barkov scoring the game-winner with the extra skater.
For most of the night there wasn’t much room for either team on the ice as both teams played a tight-checking style of game. Florida tried to use their speed up front to counter against the Lightning, but a strong back-check effort by the Tampa Bay forwards disrupted several opportunities. It was obvious that Barkov was on his game early as he beat Vasilevskiy on a short-handed rush, but the near post bailed the Lightning out.
The effort was there for the Lightning, but the Panthers just didn’t allow them much in front of Bobrovsky. Shots were blocked at the front line and little space was available for the Lightning playmakers. The best look for the Bolts came on a two-on-one, but Bobrovsky denied Zemgus Girgernsons.
After a scoreless first period, Florida came out with a lot of pressure early on in the second. The newest Cat, Seth Jones, had a golden opportunity to make it a special debut when he picked off a clearing pass and walked in on Vasilevskiy, but the Lightning netminder was able to poke the first attempt off his stick and then made the save on the rebound attempt.
It would be another failed clear that led to the first goal of the game. J.J. Moser’s pass along the boards split a couple of Lightning teammates and Barkov came up with the puck. Aided by a slight pick on Nikita Kucherov, the Florida captain was able to get into a good shooting spot and whipped his shot past a slightly screened Vasilevskiy.
Aleksander Barkov (unassisted) 1-0 Panthers
The Lightning had a few looks on an ensuing 4-on-4, but the puck gods were against them once again. On a bit of a broken play, Bobrovsky dropped his stick making a sprawling save, and wasn’t able to retrieve it.Tampa Bay had possession of the puck and Jake Guentzel would have had a tap-in on a back-door pass from Mitchell Chaffee, but the cross-crease pass hit the stick and bounced away harmlessly.
Shortly after, Moser went to the box for tripping and the Panthers didn’t take long in converting the power play. Once again it was Barkov who found some open ice at the top of the slot and his shot beat Vasilevskiy cleanly.
Aleksander Barkov (Mackie Samoskevich, Aaron Ekblad) Power Play, 2-0 Panthers
To the Lightning’s credit, the goal seemed to wake them up a little as they generated a two-on-one shortly after, but the puck hopped over Anthony Cirelli’s stick at the last moment. As the play cycled through, Darren Raddysh unleashed one of his trademark clappers, but unfortunately Brandon Hagel’s left arm got in the way. The Lightning forward was in obvious discomfort as he skated straight to the Lightning bench and went down the tunnel. Guentzel was high-sticked on the play and the Lightning had a four-minute power play.
They were unable to generate much offense with the extra skater and the period ended with them still down by two goals. The good news was that Hagel returned for the third period. Even better is that they finally put one past Bobrovsky, Brayden Point followed up his own shot to slide his rebound attempt under the pads to make it 2-1. Credit to Kucherov for the moving pick out of the corner to free up space for Point.
Brayden Point (Darren Raddysh, Jake Guentzel) 2-1 Lightning
After being bottled up for most of the game, the Lightning offense started to find some space in the third period, which was by far their best of the night. Unfortunately, they couldn’t find the equalizer despite a couple of close calls. First, it was Cirelli from in front of the net who chipped a shot over the goaltender, but caught just enough of the crossbar to keep it out. Then it was Bobrovsky stoning Ryan McDonagh on a short-handed breakaway.
All of that led up to the Lightning’s last-gasp chance with a power play and Vasilevskiy on the bench. Despite having just nine seconds to work with, they won the face-off and were able to get the puck to Hedman in a prime position, but his shot caught too much of the right post and stayed out.
With the loss, they fall five points back of Florida, who moved into a virtual tie with Toronto after the Maple Leafs lost in a shootout to San Jose. The Bolts do have the chance to claw two points back tomorrow when they take on Columbus back at Amalie Arena while Florida and Toronto are not playing.
