Panthers hold off Lightning to earn split of home-and-home

SUNRISE, Fla. -- Colton Sceviour, Jared McCann and Vincent Trocheck scored 2:28 apart in the third period to help the Florida Panthers earn a split of their home-and-home against the Tampa Bay Lightning with a 5-4 victory at BB&T Center on Saturday.
"We found a way to win," said coach Bob Boughner, who earned his first win as an NHL coach. "That was my speech before the game: Good teams never lose two in a row and stick with the plan."

WATCH: [All Lightning vs. Panthers highlights]
Evgenii Dadonov and Nick Bjugstad each had a goal and an assist for the Panthers (1-1-0), and James Reimer made 26 saves.
Nikita Kucherov, Vladislav Namestnikov, Brayden Point and Tyler Johnson scored for Tampa Bay (1-1-0), and Steven Stamkos had two assists. Goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy started for a second consecutive night and made 43 saves.

Tampa Bay defeated Florida 5-3 at Amalie Arena on Friday.
The Panthers trailed 3-2 going into the third period before Sceviour tied the game 3-3 at 6:06 after taking a pass from Micheal Haley and flipping a shot from close range.
McCann scored at 6:42 with a wrist shot from the wing to put Florida ahead 4-3. The goal initially was disallowed because of goalie interference, but the call on the ice was overturned following a video review after Boughner challenged.
Trocheck made it 5-3 at 8:34 when he put home a rebound of a Radim Vrbata shot.
"Everyone in here was going full speed for the full 60," Trocheck said. "That's great to see."

Johnson got Tampa Bay to within 5-4 at 14:42. The Lightning got a power play at 15:54 when Panthers center Aleksander Barkov received a double minor for roughing and Kucherov was called for roughing. They got a second chance to tie it on the power play when Sceviour was called for delay of game after playing the puck over the glass at 19:12.
The Lightning took a 2-0 lead for the second straight night. Kucherov put them up 1-0 at 3:30 on a rebound after Stamkos' redirect of his pass hit the crossbar. Namestnikov made it 2-0 at 4:48 with a power-play goal.
Dadonov scored a power-play goal at 12:18 to make it 2-1 before Bjugstad tied it 2-2 at 1:46 of the second period.
Point gave Tampa Bay a 3-2 lead at 13:57 of the second when the Lightning were being outshot 36-9.
"I look at these two games that we split, probably feel a little fortunate that we got two points out of this because we didn't deserve the two points tonight, right?" Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. "The more deserving team got the two points. Ultimately in this league, if you want to be a playoff team, you can't be giving up four goals a night, and that's what we're doing right now. And if it wasn't for the heroic play of our goaltending, it could be worse."

Goal of the game

Bjugstad scored when Dadonov's perfect two-line pass sent him on a breakaway and he beat Vasilevskiy with a wrist shot to the stick side.

Save of the game

Reimer had to make a couple of saves in the final minute with Vasilevskiy pulled for the extra attacker and the Lightning on the power play, including one against Alex Killorn from a sharp angle with 19.5 seconds left.

Highlight of the game

With Tampa Bay frantically trying to get a shot on goal in the final 10 seconds, Panthers forward Connor Brickley blocked Victor Hedman's shot and Aaron Ekblad got in front of one from Kucherov, and the puck went into the corner before the final horn sounded.

They said it

"We're just not paying attention to the details in front of our net. We just have to address that and move on. We got one win out of the two, maybe fortunate to get that one too. But we'll have to get better here."-- Lightning captain Steven Stamkos
"We generated a lot of shots on the board and never got frustrated. It was a big thing for us. We kept our will going, and some guys had some big goals. It was a really fun game to be a part of. It wasn't only goal-scoring, guys were blocking shots and selling out there at the end. It was just a good all-around performance." -- Panthers center Nick Bjugstad

Need to know

Lightning forward JT Brown raised his fist during the national anthem. "I wanted to do something to show my support," Brown said. "There's some issues that we have to talk about. In my mind, I'm just trying to bring a little bit more awareness and any type of conversation that we can get started would be great." … Florida's 48 shots were one more than its 2016-17 high, which came against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Dec. 28. … Jonathan Huberdeau's assist on Dadonov's goal was his 200th NHL point. … Panthers rookie Owen Tippett, the No. 10 pick in the 2017 NHL Draft, was a healthy scratch for a second consecutive game.

What's next

Lightning:Host the Washington Capitals on Monday (7:30 p.m. ET; SUN, NBCSWA, NHL.TV)
Panthers: Host the St. Louis Blues on Thursday (7:30 p.m. ET; FS-F, FS-MW, NHL.TV)