The Backcheck: Finley’s First, The Tortoise and the Hare and a back-to-back split

The Tampa Bay Lightning kicked off their weekend with a positive feeling, taking a 3-1 Saturday win over their in-state rival Florida Panthers.

A mere 24 hours later wasn’t as kind to the Lightning, as the home team was the victim of a comeback victory for the visiting Vancouver Canucks on Sunday.

Tampa Bay split the weekend series 1-1-0 and is now 9-7-2 on the season. They will look to get back in the win column when the New Jersey Devils visit Benchmark International Arena this Tuesday at 7 p.m.

Finley’s first NHL goal wins rivalry game against Panthers

On a night the Tampa Bay Lightning were forced to play without seven players from its usual NHL roster, a new face made the biggest play on Saturday.

Only four minutes into the third period, rookie forward Jack Finley beat a Florida Panthers defenseman to a loose puck at the far blueline to create a breakaway, deked to his backhand and buried his first career NHL goal through goalie Sergei Bobrovsky.

The marker stood as the game-winner in a 3-1 win, the first edition of a four-game regular season series between the in-state rivals.

“We had a plan, and we executed it,” Lightning coach Jon Cooper said postgame. “The goalie in the end, when you break down, has to make a save, and he did. It was not so much the offensive effort but the defensive effort that we knew was going to give us a chance to win the game, and it proved right.”

Tampa Bay faced a tough task on Saturday. They played without then-leading goalscorers Anthony Cirelli and Brandon Hagel, defensemen Victor Hedman and Ryan McDonagh as well as forwards Pontus Holmberg, Nick Paul and Dominic James due to injury.

The Lightning were up for the challenge, handing their Atlantic Division opponent and the defending Stanley Cup champions a 3-1 loss in their own arena.

“Obviously getting two points in this building always feels good, and I thought overall our team played really good,” forward Yanni Gourde said of the win after assisting on the empty-net insurance goal.

Tampa Bay opened the scoring 12:19 into Saturday’s contest following an offensive zone faceoff.

Nikita Kucherov grabbed the puck and fed it to defenseman Emil Lilleberg, who ripped a snap shot from the left faceoff circle into the top left corner of the Florida net.

When the Panthers tied the game on Brad Marchand’s power-play goal in the second period, Tampa Bay didn’t flinch with help from a new-look forward combination in the final frame.

Forward Scott Sabourin’s breakout pass to Curtis Douglas allowed the latter to chip the puck out of the zone, and that’s when Finley won a race to the loose puck before burying his first NHL goal for the 2-1 lead 4:09 into the third period.

The goal came after Bobrovsky denied an earlier breakaway by Finley, so the forward opted for a deke to beat one of the NHL’s best goalies. He laughed when asked about the goal, saying he blacked out a little bit after the puck went in.

He was happy to share the goal with Sabourin and Douglas.

“I think my line’s been playing good the last two games. We made a couple good plays out of the D-zone, I was just skating up the ice hard,” Finley said. “I had a breakaway earlier on Bobrovsky and he came out, so I told myself on the bench, ‘If I get another one, I’m gonna make a move on him’, and I actually did. So it was good.”

The goal marked the trio’s second in as many games since being combined on Wednesday against the New York Rangers. Sabourin had a goal and assist in his first two games with the Lightning, and it was Finley’s turn to score on Saturday.

“If you’re gonna get your first, might as well make it a game-winner,” Cooper said of the goal. “To me, it was his two linemates that, Sabby makes a big play early and gets it to Dougy, and it’s a great play to Finner. And then probably a little benefit of their defenseman falling. But the bottom line is you’re going in all alone, we need you to finish. And the kid finished. That was obviously a big one for us.”

Tampa Bay fought through more adversity in the third period and kept its lead by erasing a four-minute power play with 12 minutes remaining after a double-minor, high-sticking penalty.

The Lightning added Zemgus Girgensons’ empty-net goal in the final minute. Goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy saved 23 of 24 shots on goal to earn the win, which Gourde said required a full team effort and showed character without some of the franchise’s usual top scorers.

“We looked like a great team tonight, and just the way we skated and we forechecked, and we kept it simple,” Gourde said. “It was a good game for us tonight.”

Benjamin’s Three Stars:

1. Jack Finley, TBL (Game-winning goal)
2. Andrei Vasilevskiy, TBL (23-save win)
3. Emil Lilleberg, TBL (Goal)

Strong start not enough for Bolts against Vancouver

Despite one of their better starts to a game this season, Sunday night’s final result wasn’t as pleasant as the Tampa Bay Lightning fell to the Vancouver Canucks 6-2.

The visiting Canucks scored three goals in 1 minute, 40 seconds to start the third period and turned a one-goal deficit into a multi-goal advantage. The Canucks finished the third period with five goals to steal the win.

“I think the first period was really good from us. We were playing our hockey and then I don't know what happened in the second, and it's just unacceptable and terrible,” defenseman Erik Cernak said postgame. “We were going into the third (period) winning, and we lost the game.”

Tampa Bay had perhaps their best period of the season to open Sunday, outshooting the Canucks 13-1. Vancouver’s lone shot on goal marked the fewest allowed by the Lightning in any period so far in 2025-26.

That strong opening 20 minutes was sealed with the 1-0 goal in the final minute.

Defenseman Darren Raddysh accepted a drop pass from Brayden Point at the left point and sent a pass to an open Nikita Kucherov in the right faceoff circle. Kucherov one-timed the puck through Vancouver goalie Kevin Lankinen with 35 seconds left in the opening frame.

Tampa Bay was quick to expand its lead in the second period, making it 2-0 when Jake Guentzel redirected Cernak’s point shot 4:35 into the middle frame.

The Canucks scored midway through the second period, halving the Lightning lead on Jake DeBrusk’s power-play rebound goal.

Vancouver then took over in the third period, scoring five goals—including three in a minute, 40 second span.

Kiefer Sherwood tied the game with a power-play tip 4:11 into the third period that went off a Lightning player’s skate, and the Canucks led 43 seconds later on another goal.

“We were on them,” Guentzel said. “We were on top of them, we were playing the right way. And that's the thing, it's tough to win in this league when you don't play a full 60 (minutes). That's what we’ve got to do, and we’ve got to learn from this one.”

The Canucks then made it 4-2 with Drew O’Connor’s redirection of a shot by Quinn Hughes, who led all players on Sunday with four points. MacKenzie MacEachern’s second redirection goal of the game made it 5-2, and an empty-net goal closed the scoring.

“I think that was the big thing in the third,” Cernak said of allowing netfront looks on Sunday.

“In the first and second, we were owning the front of the net. We were boxing guys out and didn't give them anything, and then in the third, I don't know what happened. We just weren't strong enough there. We didn't take the sticks away, we didn't take the guys away, and they scored a couple goals on that. So, like I said, it's unacceptable, and we have to do better.”

Tampa Bay appeared to cut into the score with 7:44 remaining thanks to Charle-Edouard D’Astous’ goal, but it was taken off the board after a Vancouver coach’s challenge.

Lightning goalie Jonas Johansson finished with 12 saves, while Lankinen took the win with 28.

Tampa Bay was 0-for-2 on the power play, while the Canucks went 2-for-3 in a game they were outshot 30-18 by the home team.

Cooper compared the final result to the old tale of The Tortoise and the Hare.

“They just kept going, and they kept trying, and they just kept going, understanding a game is 60 minutes, not 30. And then the other team is up two, feeling pretty good about themselves, to the point where it’s like…The tortoise and the hare. That's what it was. It was the tortoise and the hare, and one team got comfortable, and in this league the second that happens, you're done. And we got comfortable. They stuck with it, and the right team won the game. That's ultimately it, and so that's what the disappointment is.”

Benjamin’s Three Stars:

1. Quinn Hughes, VAN (4 Assists)
2. Mackenzie MacEachern, VAN (2 Goals)
3. Kevin Lankinen, VAN (29 saves, win)