Lightning rally, top Panthers in shootout

TAMPA --Andrei Vasilevskiy made 42 saves for the Tampa Bay Lightning in a 2-1 shootout win against the Florida Panthers at Amalie Arena on Saturday in the season opener for each team.

"We certainly have to tip our cap to Vasilevskiy] and pat him on the back a few times," Lightning defenseman Ryan McDonagh said. "He was pretty incredible to have that focus and step up in game one. He was definitely the main reason we got the two points."
[WATCH: [All Panthers vs. Lightning highlights]
J.T. Miller scored in the first round of the shootout when his shot went off the stick of Panthers goalie James Reimer. Nikita Kucherov beat Reimer five-hole in the third round.
"It was a nice break for them, they got a bit of lucky bounce on the first one," Reimer said. "Obviously, Kucherov is a shooter and I wish I would have played that one a little bit different."

Anthony Cirelli scored for Tampa Bay, which has won its past five season openers.
"I thought we had a really good second period. I really like the way we were playing," Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. "But you just can't take three penalties in the third period. It sucked the life out of us. It's something we're obviously going to have to address now."
Jacob MacDonald scored in his NHL debut for Florida. Roberto Luongo made 13 saves before leaving the game with a lower-body injury at 12:21 of the second period. He was replaced by Reimer, who made 15 saves.
MacDonald, who replaced MacKenzie Weegar (shoulder) in the lineup, beat Vasilevskiy short side from the left circle on his first shot at 5:58 of the first period to give the Panthers a 1-0 lead.
"It's obviously my dream to play and have a shift like that my first time out is awesome," MacDonald said. "It was a lot of fun coming in here and they have a great environment."
Cirelli tied it 1-1 with a shorthanded goal at 10:45 of the third period after McDonagh forced a turnover and passed to him for a 2-on-1. Cirelli tried to set up Alex Killorn, but the pass deflected off Panthers forward Aleksander Barkov's stick back to Cirelli, who scored into an open net.

"We were 2-on-1 and Barkov was back there," Cirelli said. "I wanted him to make the first move and I tried to make a pass, it bounced off the goalie and was right there for me."
Luongo was injured when Panthers forward Frank Vatrano fell on his right leg after colliding with defenseman Mark Pysyk.
"It's tough. Obviously, [Luongo] is a battler and a workhouse," Reimer said. "It really [stinks] when you see that happen."

They said it

"We did a lot of good things that we talked about in the last few weeks. I thought we controlled the first period. We couldn't get one by Vasilevskiy. Even on our power play, we had some amazing chances, but give him credit, he's a tough guy to get a puck behind." -- Panthers coach Bob Boughner
"Cirelli might have been one of the best players on the ice for us. You work that (hard) and do so many things right, you're eventually going to get the chance and he did. That was a huge goal for us."-- Lightning coach Jon Cooper

Need to know

MacDonald joined Magnus Svensson and Per Gustafsson as the only Panthers rookie defenseman to score a goal in their NHL debut. … Kucherov was held without a shot on goal. ... The Lightning are 17-7-0 (two ties) in season openers. ... Cirelli's goal ended a scoreless stretch for the Lightning of 210:12 dating back to Game 5 of the 2018 Eastern Conference Finals. ... Panthers forward Derek MacKenzie left the game in the first period with an upper-body injury.

What's next

Panthers: Host the Columbus Blue Jackets on Thursday (7:30 p.m. ET; FS-F, FS-O, NHL.TV)
Lightning: Host the Vancouver Canucks on Thursday (7:30 p.m. ET; SN360, SUN, NHL.TV)