Lightning top Panthers on Drouin's shootout winner

Florida's Bobby Butler scored twice in the third period, with the tying goal at 58 seconds left, but Tampa Bay Lightning rookie Jonathan Drouin scored the only goal in the shootout to send the Lightning past the Florida Panthers, 5-4, at Tampa Bay Times Forum.

"I was pretty happy and I was a little nervous, all the fans were screaming," Drouin told the team's website. "When I scored, I was pretty happy."

Steven Stamkos gave Tampa Bay a 4-3 lead with 7:25 remaining in regulation, and had two first-period assists to help the Lightning to a 2-0 edge.

Panthers defenseman Dmitry Kulikov had a goal and two assists, defenseman Erik Gudbranson had a goal and an assist, and Tomas Kopecky had two assists.

Ryan Malone, Martin St. Louis and J.T. Brown scored for Tampa Bay.

"In close games you learn to win, and I think we made a lot of right decisions tonight to put ourselves in a spot where we ended up finishing," Malone said.