RECAP: Lightning 5, Panthers 3

SUNRISE, Fla. – Even in defeat, the Florida Panthers found a way to impress.

After falling behind 4-0, they led 38-5 in shots on goal over the final two periods to nearly claw all the way back in a 5-3 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning at Amerant Bank Arena on Saturday.

Looking at the fight his players showed, Paul Maurice left the game feeling encourage.

“We’ve been really good at learning from those kinds of things and then going on runs and playing our best hockey,” the Panthers head coach said. “When I say I’m fine with it, don’t get me wrong. You’re not in a good mood and you don’t like losing games, but if you lose you better learn. We can learn. I’m more comfortable tonight than I was after Dallas.”

Sitting pretty at 45-19-4, the Panthers have lost two straight games for the first time since Jan. 17-19.

In tonight’s loss, they led 4.61-2.41 in expected goals and 41-20 in scoring chances, per NaturalStatTrick.com.

“I think being engaged early is important,” Panthers forward Sam Reinhart said. “We’ve kind of dug ourselves a hole the last couple, but our game is there. It works when we’re executing it.”

Benefitting from some puck luck, the Lightning opened the scoring just 20 seconds into the first period when a pass from Steven Stamkos on a 2-on-1 rush went off Brandon Montour in the slot and past Sergei Bobrovsky to make it 1-0.

After being denied on his initial breakaway attempt, Michael Eyssimont doubled the lead for the Lightning when he powered his own rebound through Bobrovsky’s five-hole and into the net to make it 2-0 at 13:21.

Coming out for the second period, the Panthers switched up their lines. Carter Verhaeghe moved up to the top line, Vladimir Tarasenko moved down to the third line, and Evan Rodrigues slid up to the second line. The fourth line remained unchanged.

“Just comfort level,” Maurice said of the changes. “There were a bunch of different options with inserting new players. I had two or three cards that I filled out when it first happened, so I just went to a different card.”

Adding to the lead for the Lightning, Darren Raddysh took a pass from former Panther Anthony Duclair and sniped a shot from the right circle to make it 3-0 at 3:02.

Just 26 seconds later, the Panthers appeared to get on the board when Josh Mahura took advantage of some chaos in the slot and fired a shot past Andrei Vasilevskiy. Good goal, right? Nope! Despite their initial call, officials ended up taking the goal off the board after retroactively giving Dmitry Kulikov a match penalty for elbowing a split-second before the light went off.

“Never seen one of those,” Maurice smirked when asked about the odd decision. “But that’s the beauty of the National Hockey League, they’ll always surprise you with something.”

Eventually turning that extended 5-on-4 into a 5-on-3 power play after the Panthers were whistled for another penalty, the Lightning tacked on another goal when Stamkos buried a one-timer from his usual spot in the left circle to make it 4-0 at 6:59.

Even though the Lightning was still on a 5-on-4 power play after that strike, the Panthers managed to push back with a goal of their own when Matthew Tkachuk kept the puck on a 3-on-1 rush and buried a far-side shot to trim the deficit to 4-1 at 8:23.

It was the first shorthanded goal of Tkachuk’s career.

Keeping their foot on the gas, the Panthers struck on the power play when Reinhart pounced on a loose puck in the slot and sent it past Vasilevskiy to make it 4-2 at 11:55.

Earning 53 seconds of a 5-on-3 power play late in the period, the Panthers couldn’t close the gap any further before the second intermission despite a couple high quality chances.

“We put up 20 shots on the power play,” Maurice said. “We missed a bunch, hit some posts. The power play is fine. … It’s just a balance from the game when everything went in. Nothing would go tonight. It wasn’t the story of the game.”

After another period of weird whistles – plus ones that never came – the Panthers still managed to cut deeper into their deficit when Reinhart stole the puck behind the net, caught Vasilevskiy out of position and buried a sharp-angle shot to make it 4-3 at 16:08.

The third player in franchise history record 10 multi-goal games in a season, Reinhart needs just two more goals to join Hall of Famer Pavel Bure as the only two players in franchise history to hit the 50-goal mark.

“It’s a night in, night out basis,” Mahura said of his teammate's epic campaign. “A lot of people see the work he puts in during the games, but we get to see it every day in practice and off the ice. It’s a credit to him with how hard he’s been working.”

With the Panthers throwing everything they had at the net in search of the game-tying goal after pulling Bobrovsky for a late 6-on-5 advantage, Vasilevskiy made his biggest stop of the game when he robbed Aleksander Barkov with a blocker save.

Finishing with 47 saves, that was just one of his nine high-danger stops.

Despite a valiant effort from the Panthers, the Lightning eventually iced away the game when Nikita Kucherov scored on the empty net to make it 5-3 with 1:32 left in regulation.

Even with no points gained, the Panthers feel like they took a step forward.

“We’ve just got to try and replicate it and do it from the start,” Tkachuk said of the team’s dominance after the first period. “They’re a really good team over there, but we know we can definitely hang with them. When we’re playing our best and we take over like that, it should give us a lot of confidence against every team.”

THEY SAID IT

“The guys on the bench can look at the way we played for two periods and say, ‘OK, that’s our game.’” – Paul Maurice

“I guess we had some chances there and stuff, but regardless it’s a tough one to lose on home ice here.” – Josh Mahura

“It’s easy to get going when one line’s going because we’re all playing the same way when we’re at our best. We feed off one another.” – Sam Reinhart

“We definitely played way better when it was 4-0, but we can’t let it get to 4-0. That’s on us. We gave up way too many good chances early. That’s not our game. That’s not what’s going to make us successful.” – Matthew Tkachuk

CATS STATS

- Sam Reinhart is just the sixth player in NHL history to record 32 goals on special teams.

- The Panthers finished their season series with the Lightning at 2-1-0.

- Florida led 80-37 in shot attempts.

- The Panthers allowed just five shots on goal over the final two periods.

- Aleksander Barkov won 15 faceoffs.

- Florida went 6-for-7 on the penalty kill against Tampa Bay’s top-ranked power play.

- Niko Mikkola blocked a team-high four shots on goal.

- Brandon Montour recorded a team-high four hits.

WHAT’S NEXT?

It’s time to rest.

After getting a few days to recharge before the home stretch, the Panthers will return to the ice to host the Nashville Predators at Amerant Bank Arena on Thursday at 7:30 p.m. ET.

For tickets, click HERE.