Eetu Luostarinen scored, and Sergei Bobrovsky made 26 saves for the Panthers, who won the Presidents' Trophy with the best regular-season record in the NHL (58-18-6) and are the No. 1 seed in the Atlantic.
"Obviously, it's really hard," Florida coach Andrew Brunette said. "It's not easy. It's one of those things that hurts, obviously, but it's a roller-coaster ride that we're in and the sun will come up, wake up and keep playing like we're playing. I really liked our game. I liked most of our game Game 1 (a 4-1 loss). Just a learning experience again against a team that doesn't give you too many openings, and we kind of gave away one there."
Perry gave Tampa Bay a 1-0 lead at 12:06 of the first period with his second power-play goal in two games. He tipped Steven Stamkos' pass in the slot high to the glove side.
The Lightning were 1-for-3 on the power play after going 3-for-6 in Game 1. The Panthers were 0-for-4, making them 0-for-7 in the series and 0-for-25 in nine playoff games. Their last power play started with 3:23 left in the third period.
"I liked the early urgency," Brunette said. "You know, they're squeezing it. It's really unbelievable. But I liked the urgency. We had some looks. I thought it was better and it a great opportunity to capitalize there."
A key to Tampa Bay's penalty-killing was its 24 blocked shots, though they came at a price. Stamkos, forward Brandon Hagel and defenseman Erik Cernak each left for the locker room at some point after blocking a shot but returned to the game. Cernak blocked a game-high four.
"That's just the sacrifice at this time of the year," said Stamkos, the Lightning captain. "That's just the expectation of our group, and everyone's doing it no matter the situation in the game. It's contagious. Guys are stepping up, whether it's an amazing penalty kill at the end, blocked shots, taking a hit to make a play. Guys are willing to do that and it's a great trait to have as a team."
