Panthers score nine, Huberdeau gets five points against Lightning
Two goals for Duclair; Knight makes 39 saves
By
Corey Long
NHL.com Independent Correspondent
Anthony Duclair scored twice, including his 100th NHL goal, for the Panthers (20-7-4), who are 16-3-0 at home this season. Spencer Knight made 39 saves, and 15 of the 18 Florida skaters scored at least one point.
"We saw that they were a little bit of a different team than usual," Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov said. "But it didn't affect our preparation for the game or mindset or anything. We wanted to come out hard and we got a good start. We probably didn't play our best game overall, but if you score nine goals in a game you're probably going to win."
Brayden Point and Steven Stamkos scored for the Lightning (21-7-4), who lost for the third time in their past 12 games. Maxime Lagace made 21 saves on 27 shots, and defenseman Victor Hedman was minus-6.
The nine goals are the NHL season high.
"We gave up too many chances to a really good team that wanted to beat us," Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper said. "A team that we've handled and beat in the playoffs. They haven't forgotten, and after tonight I won't forget this."
Lightning goalies Andrei Vasilevskiy and Brian Elliott, forwards Anthony Cirelli and Taylor Raddysh, and defensemen Mikhail Sergachev and Cal Foote were unavailable in NHL COVID-19 protocol.
"They deserved what they got and we probably helped them along in that process," Cooper said. "Don't look at our lineup and say, 'Well that's a victim of circumstances.' We put ourselves in that position."
Florida scored three third-period goals in a 4-3 win against the New York Rangers on Wednesday.
"We needed a couple of games at home like this," Huberdeau said. "Obviously they were missing key players on the other side, but we focused on our team. We played a [heck] of a game and it's good for us to win a back-to-back at home."
Duclair gave the Panthers a 1-0 lead at 2:10 of the first period on a breakaway. Huberdeau made it 2-0 with a power-play goal at 11:22, a follow-up on a shot from Duclair that hit the post.
Frank Vatrano extended the lead to 3-0 at 14:21 with a follow up off his shot.
Zach Bogosian got the Lightning within 3-1 at 15:31 with a shot from the right circle.
"It's small details and mistakes here and there that cost us early," Lightning forward Mathieu Joseph said. "We were never able to come back in the game."
Eetu Luostarinen pushed the lead to 4-1 at 3:02 of the second period.
Stamkos made it 4-2 at 6:19 with a quick shot from the slot.
"You're going to have injuries, you're going to have guys out," Lightning defenseman Ryan McDonagh said. "It's no excuse for our group. Tonight is not a good example of the way we want to play and we took it on the chin. That's for sure."
Maxim Mamin made it 5-2 at 17:26 with a goal from close range, and Anton Lundell extended the lead to 6-2 at 19:23.
"We just wanted to keep going from where we finished yesterday," Lundell said. "Right away from the start we wanted to show the way. It's always a good game against the Lightning. They are a good team and it's a hard battle. So we were prepared and we just played as a team."
Point made it 6-3 with a power-play goal at 4:27 of the third period.
Duclair scored his second to make it 7-3 at 4:38, Aaron Ekblad made it 8-3 at 6:46, and Barkov made it 9-3 with a shorthanded goal at 12:31.
"We have a standard, we've set it, we have a process we go through," Cooper said. "It's taken time in this organization to build it and tonight we did not exercise it."
NOTES: Huberdeau had his fourth NHL five-point game. Since his debut in 2012-13, two players have more: Edmonton Oilers forward Connor McDavid (seven) and Boston Bruins forward Brad Marchand (five). ... Cooper returned after missing two games in NHL COVID-19 protocol. ... It was the first time Florida scored nine goals. It scored 10 against the Boston Bruins on Nov. 26, 1997 (10-5). ... Lightning goalie Hugo Alnefelt made his NHL debut in the third period and made seven saves on 10 shots. ... Lightning defenseman Darren Raddysh was minus-1 in 14:57 of ice time in his NHL debut. ... Duclair has scored 12 goals this season, 22 in two seasons with Florida, and 101 in 419 NHL games with the Rangers, Arizona Coyotes, Chicago Blackhawks, Columbus Blue jackets, Ottawa Senators and Panthers.
