The first period was an ugly one for the Lightning. Not only were the Panthers executing and skating well, the Lightning seemed out of synch. They had limited offensive zone time - and when they did maneuver the puck into the Panthers end, they had little time and space with which to work. Fortunately for them, Andrei Vasilevskiy was on his game - although he allowed an early goal to Florida's Jacob MacDonald (who was making his NHL debut), he finished the period with 15 saves. His work helped offset Florida's first period territorial advantage.
Credit the Lightning for pulling their game together in the second. Following an early successful penalty kill, they found their rhythm. Late on the kill, Mathieu Joseph (also making his NHL debut), busted out of the defensive zone and drew a slashing minor on Keith Yandle. On the ensuing power play, the Lightning passed the puck well and produced several good looks. They rode that momentum through the end of the period, a frame in which they outshot the Panthers, 14-8. But the tandem of Roberto Luongo and James Reimer (who replaced Luongo after the veteran netminder sustained an injury), kept the Lightning off the board.
The Panthers carried 65 seconds of power play time into the third. Including that man advantage, they enjoyed four separate power play opportunities in the opening 12 and a half minutes of the third. During those chances, they posted nine power play shots and a handful of Grade-A looks. But Vasilevskiy turned them all aside. On the final kill, Ryan McDonagh's outlet led to a two-on-one shorthanded rush for Anthony Cirelli and Alex Killorn. Cirelli's pass to Killorn hit off Aleksander Barkov and ricocheted off Reimer. Cirelli put in the rebound to tie the game.
Once they got back to five-on-five, the Lightning produced most of the dangerous chances before regulation ended. The best of those came in the final minute of regulation, when Killorn broke into the clear past the Florida defense and forced Reimer to make a point-blank save.
In what was a fairly wide-open overtime, both netminuders made stops on opposition scoring chances. Then in the first round of the shootout, Miller finessed his shot up and over Reimer's shoulder. It hit the post and went in. In the first round for the Panthers, Mike Hoffman hit the post and the puck came out. Vasilevskiy made a save on Barkov in the second round before Kucherov secured the win with a goal in the third round.
The Lightning have now won five consecutive season openers, tying Vancouver for the longest current streak in the league. They'll face the Canucks in their next game, which won't take place until Thursday.
Lightning Radio Three Stars of the Game (as selected by Phil Esposito):
1. Andrei Vasilevskiy - Lightning. 42 saves.
2. Anthony Cirelli - Lightning. SHG.
3. Roberto Luongo/James Reimer - Panthers. Combined 28 saves.
