Even in defeat, the Panthers showed a lot of fight.
Clawing their way back from a pair of one-goal deficits throughout the game, the Panthers unfortunately came up just short in a 5-3 loss to the Lightning at Amalie Arena on Sunday.
5 Takeaways: Panthers Open Trip with Hard-Fought Loss to Lightning
"I thought it was a great battle," Panthers coach Joel Quenneville said. "I thought both teams worked hard. I thought our team did everything we possibly could to put ourselves in a spot to get a point or two. A tough loss, but at the same time a lot of positives coming out of that game."
Facing his former team, Carter Verhaeghe kicked things off in Tampa Bay this afternoon when he collected a pass from Aleksander Barkov - who jumpstarted the play with a takeaway - and hoisted a backhand shot past Curtis McElhinney to put Florida up 1-0 at 3:28 of the first period.
However, the elation from that early goal would be short-lived for the Cats, as Yanni Gourde beat Sergei Bobrovsky off a rebound just 32 seconds later to pull the Lightning even at 1-1.
In the second period, it was a fortuitous bounce the helped Tampa Bay take the lead. After the Panthers whacked away a shot on net, the rubber somehow ended up right on the stick of Alex Killorn, who then one-timed it into the cage to break the tie and make it a 2-1 contest at 11:23.
Later in the middle frame, the Panthers appeared to even things up at 2-2 when Frank Vatrano sent a rebound past McElhinney. Almost immediately, the Lightning challenged the score. And, unfortunately, the play was ruled offside and the goal was taken off the board after a review.
Not getting discouraged, the Cats kept pushing.
And on the power play with time winding down in the period, Gustav Forsling finally got things tied back up for the Panthers when he wired a long slap shot through a maze of players and past McElhinney - who was the victim of a screen from Noel Acciari - to make it 2-2 at 18:24.
"I thought we were working hard all game long," Quenneville said. "With how we've come back in games all season long, I thought we were doing the same things. A great pace to start the game, great purpose."
Trading goals once again early in the third period, the Lightning briefly gained a 3-2 advantage when Mathieu Joseph beat Bobrovsky off a rebound at 5:22. About a minute later, however, Patric Hornqvist tipped in a shot from Keith Yandle on the power play to make it 3-3 at 6:25.
After Florida's penalty kill started the game a perfect 4-on-4, the Lightning's power play finally broke through when Tyler Johnson scored off a feed from Gourde to make it 4-3 at 10:16. Then, with 15 seconds left in regulation, Brayden Point locked in the 5-3 win with an empty-net goal.
Bobrovsky finished with 19 saves, while McElhinney stopped 29 of 32 shots.
Improving to 23-6-2, Tampa Bay currently sits in first place in the Central Division with 48 points. Only four points back, Florida sits in second with 44 points at 20-7-4. With each team winning two games in the season series thus far, the intrastate rivals are set to face off four more times.
"It's one of those games where when you play these guys you know it's going to be tight," Yandle said. "It's a good little rivalry we've got going right now. I really liked our effort. I thought we worked hard and played hard for 60 minutes. Obviously, there's points in the game where you can learn from and get better from, and I think we'll do that and move on to Chicago."
Looking to improve to 10-0-1 after losses, the Panthers will visit the Blackhawks on Tuesday.
Here are five takeaways from Sunday's defeat in Tampa Bay…
1. VERHAEGHE OPENS IT UP
Verhaeghe seems to really enjoy these games against his former teammates.
Picking up his second goal and fourth point against the Lightning this season, Verhaeghe, who helped Tampa Bay capture the Stanley Cup last season, broke the ice this afternoon when he took a pass from Barkov and buried a slick backhander to make it 1-0 at 3:28 of the first period.
"I saw some space there and Barky made an awesome pass to me," Verhaeghe said. "I didn't have a shot, so I just pulled it, I shot it and it went in. A nice play by Barky to make that happen."
Cracking the scoresheet in seven of the last eight games, Verhaeghe has notched four goals and four assists in that span. Trailing only Barkov on the Panthers in goals with 12, all of his scores have come at even-strength, which is currently tied for the fourth-most in the league.
In 31 games this season, the 25-year-old has already set a new career-high with 24 points.
"We were head-to-head all game," Verhaeghe said. "I like the way we battled back when we got down there. They're a good team... These are going to be good games."
2. FORSLING KEEPS FIRING
Forsling continues to impress since being picked by up the Panthers.
Lighting the lamp for the second time in four games, the 24-year-old defenseman made sure things would be all square heading into the second intermission when he beat McElhinney on a heavy shot through thick traffic on the power play make it 2-2 with 1:36 left in the middle frame.
"A real nice feeling," Forsling said of the score. "It's a big goal."
Claimed off waivers from the Hurricanes back in January, Forsling has quickly gone from one of the team's extra defensemen to an integral part of the blue line. Taking over as the quarterback on the team's second-power play unit, he's now racked up four points over his last four outings.
In 18 games this season, Forsling has tallied five points (two goals, three assists).
3. HORNQVIST WITH THE TIP
There goes that man again.
With the Panthers on the power play and trailing 3-2, Hornqvist set up shop in the slot before re-directing a slap shot from Yandle into the cage to make it a 3-3 game at 6:25 of the third period.
"Always nice to score on the power play, especially in tight games." Yandle said.
Doing a ton of damage on the man advantage this season, Hornqvist ranks tied for second on Florida in goals (12) and first in power-play goals (7). Over his last 10 games, the 34-year-old has churned out three goals and four assists to propel his point total up to 25 (12 goals, 13 assists).
4. GOAL OR NO GOAL?
Although it wasn't the only play challenged in the game, this one remains a headscratcher.
With the game tied 1-1 less than two minutes into the second period, Anthony Duclair appeared to put the Panthers on top when, after McElhinney made the initial save on the speedster's drive into the crease, he was pushed across the goal line and right into the cage by Anthony Cirelli.
Now, if his entire body was in the cage, the puck also must've been, right? Well, that's where things get tricky. After sliding back into the blue paint in order to stand up and dust himself off, by the time McElhinney surfaced and the puck was visible again, it was shown outside the net.
Upon further review, the NHL Situation Room deemed that "there was no conclusive evidence to determine whether the puck completely crossed the Tampa Bay goal line."
The Cats, however, still aren't quite sure.
"I saw a couple different angles on it," Quenneville said. "I was just using common sense. The area where the puck appears in afterwards was vacant. In the next picture you see a puck that you can argue whether or not it was still over the line. It's not conclusive, but still, there's no puck there when you see the area and then all of the sudden the same area… that has to be in the net."
While that goal certainly could've been a turning point, I guess you win some, you lose some.
5. STRONG ON THE KILL
Even though they weren't perfect, the Panthers should be very happy with their penalty kill.
With the Lightning owning the league's second-ranked power play heading into this afternoon's game, the Panthers still managed to go a solid 4-for-5 on the penalty kill. Limiting the number of chances from Tampa Bay's scorers, Florida's killers held the opposition to just six shots on goal.
"I thought our PK did a great job, especially in the third," Yandle said. "They kept us in it."
In the second period, the Panthers had a particularly good penalty kill in which they not only somehow managed to get a 3-on-1 break that forced McElhinney to make a spectacular save, but also drew a penalty of their own to negate the second half of the Lightning's power play.
Over the last five games, Florida has gone an outstanding 19-for-20 on the PK.
