The Florida Panthers saw their modest two-game winning streak snapped in a frustrating 3-1 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning at Amerant Bank Arena
Tampa Bay was the better team in the opening frame, outshooting the Panthers 10-6 and opening the scoring at 12:19 when Nikita Kucherov collected the puck after a faceoff in the right circle and fed Emil Lilleberg. The defenseman snapped a shot past Sergei Bobrovksy from the left circle.
The Panthers would even the score when they quickly converted their second power-play chance of the second period at the 11:31.
After Anton Lundell and Yanni Gourde took the ensuing draw in the left circle after Zegmus Girgensons went to the sin bin for charging, the puck bounced around before Sam Reinhart kicked it to Brad Marchand, who picked up point number 1,001 when his backhander clanked off the post and into the top of the net.
The Lightning would regain the lead 4:09 into the third. After taking a pass from Scott Sabourin, Curtis Douglas chipped the puck ahead to Jack Finley. Donovan Sebrango fell down on the play, allowing Finley a clear path to the net and the lanky 23-year-old used his long reach to solve Bobrovksy on the backhand for his first NHL goal.
Earlier in the period, Andrei Vasilevskiy made a nice glove save on Carter Verhaeghe’s forehand bid, and the Panthers later got a four-minute power play when Erik Cernak high-sticked Evan Rodrigues in the face, but the Cats just couldn’t produce a second goal on this night.
Girgensons would clinch it with a empty-net goal with the lone assist going to Gourde with 51 seconds left in regulation.
As has been the story too many times this season, the Panthers did a good job of holding the opposition down, but simply could not provide the goal support necessary to come away with a point or two. The Cats went 1-for-5 on the power play and just didn’t do enough to get to the middle of the ice in the offensive zone. Credit to the Lightning for keeping them out on the periphery and striking when given the break of Sebrango taking an untimely tumble. The homestand will continue on Monday when the Panthers host the Vancouver Canucks.
The Five Hole
- Brad Marchand notched his 12th goal of the season, which puts him just two behind league-leader Nathan MacKinnon. Marchand has points in his last ten outings and is officially on a seven-game point streak. He missed the 10/28 game vs. Anaheim.
- Anton Lundell, who has points in seven of the last ten games, collected his team-leading 11th assist and won 14 of his 21 faceoffs.
- Seth Jones logged a game-high 25:30 of ice time and was one of four Panthers to finish with the three shots on goal. Marchand, Carter Verhaeghe and Eetu Luostarinen were the others.
- Another solid start for Sergei Bobrovksy, who stopped 17 of 19 shots faced. Bobrovsky lowered his GAA down to 2.63 in the loss.
- Aaron Ekblad dished out team-high five hits and was also credited with a shot on goal and a one block.
Stat Card
