The Backcheck: Late goal sinks Bolts in Sunrise

After falling behind 2-0 in the first period, the Tampa Bay Lightning came storming back to overcome a multi-goal deficit, but a late power-play goal by the Florida Panthers sent the Bolts home with a 3-2 loss with one preseason contest remaining.

The scoring started at the 3:43 mark of the first when an innocent dump into the Tampa Bay zone took a crazy carom off the corner boards and the puck ended up right in the low slot for Zac Dalpe to score his second of the preseason. Everyone in the building thought the puck was going to end up rimming around the boards behind Andrei Vasilevskiy's net, but a crazy ricochet ended up right on the stick of Dalpe, who was all alone in front.
As the period was nearing the final moments, Sam Reinhart fired a hard, low shot on Vasilevskiy that was denied by the left pad, but Aleksi Heponiemi was right there to jump on the rebound and give Florida a 2-0 lead heading into the first intermission.
Nick Paul scored the Lightning's first goal of the game at the 10:20 mark of the second period when Steven Stamkos sent a hard pass to Ross Colton on the back door, who was able to get the puck over to Paul before his shot beat Sergei Bobrovsky to get Tampa Bay on the board. It would be the only goal scored by either team in the second period.
"We started moving our feet and working pucks down low," Paul said when asked about the team's improved play in the middle frame. "I thought we had some great offensive zone chances. We were moving our feet down low, winning the battles, getting it high to low, working it around and using our offense.
"In the first period, we were kind of one and done. They were closing down on us. We weren't winning our battles.
"Once we started moving our feet, talking and playing together, I thought it kind of turned around. We started moving it around and got some good zone time."

Tampa Bay continued to capitalize on that good zone time with a nice first half of the third period. Skating on a line with Stamkos and Nikita Kucherov, Vladislav Namestnikov was the one to tie the game just 4:16 into the final frame.
After a nice give-and-go between Kucherov and Cal Foote as the Bolts entered the Florida zone, Kucherov made a brilliant spin-o-rama pass that ended up right on the tape of Namestnikov for an easy equalizer. It was the second goal of the preseason for Namestnikov, who has experience skating on a line with Stamkos and Kucherov from his previous years in Tampa Bay.
Earlier in the week, I asked Namestnikov how the chemistry has been skating with Kucherov and Stamkos again. He answered, "It worked last time, so I hope the magic comes back this time."
The magic certainly looks to be there after watching the goal of the preseason thus far for the Lightning. We'll see if those three start on a line together on opening night, but after last night's performance, the trio look to have picked up where they left off roughly four years ago. That's what the preseason games are for, to find that chemistry with linemates and clean up on details before the regular season begins.
"When we're detailed and we're together, we really create some chances," Paul explained. "That's what these games are for, just working on the little details.
"We've got one more exhibition match to kind of tighten it up. We did some good things out there, but we have some things we need to work on and come together. Exhibitions are for that, so we'll just keep going."
After a holding penalty was assessed to Kucherov with 3:03 remaining in the third, Brandon Montour fired a point shot that found its way through traffic and got past Vasilevskiy with 1:15 remaining in the third. Vasilevskiy performed strong on Thursday night in his first preseason action, making 38 saves on the night.
"We were fine," said Cooper when asked to assess the team's overall performance. "I think we got a little tired at the end. I liked a lot of the way the second period went for us.
"We eventually tie the game, but probably that last half of the third there, we got tired on the back end. We spent too much time on our D-zone and couldn't get through that penalty at the end and that was the story of the game."
After playing throughout the first period, Mikhail Sergachev did not return for the remainder of the game. Looking back at his final shift of the opening frame, it didn't appear there was any kind of serious injury suffered, so Bolts fans will hold their breath and hope Sergachev was held out for precautionary reasons on Thursday.
"Well, he's getting evaluated," Cooper said. "That was a tough part of the game because I think he only played five minutes.
"We were leaning on five defensemen in an exhibition game, so that was tough on the guys. We almost got through it, but we didn't in the end."

When asked about Sergachev's status being impacted for opening night, Cooper answered, "I don't know about that. It's exhibition season, so you're not taking any chances. Let's see tomorrow how he is."
Thursday night was the first time this preseason that we saw Vasilevskiy in goal, along with what likely will be the 18 skaters to suit up on opening night for Tampa Bay.
Overall, there were both good and bad moments for the Lightning, who will look to clean up some of those details in the final preseason game before the regular season opener on October 11.
"Just touching up all our details," said Paul when asked about the preseason finale on Saturday. "There were still parts of our game where momentum was swinging their way just because we were a little off on details.
"We have some new systems and new spots and new rotations. I think it's just getting the reps in and that's why preseason is so important, especially when you're tweaking and touching up little things.
"I think next game, we're all in the lineup again, so it's just about working on those. Tomorrow, we'll see on the video where switches can be made."
The Bolts preseason will conclude on Saturday with a rematch against the Panthers at AMALIE Arena. Puck drop is set for 4 p.m. ET and the game will be streamed on TampaBayLightning.com.