RECAP: Panthers pick up point in OT loss to Lightning

SUNRISE, Fla. - In the first installment of the Battle of Florida this season, the Florida Panthers banked a point in a 3-2 overtime loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning at FLA Live Arena on Friday.
Providing the heroics for Tampa Bay, Brayden Point scored both the game-tying goal in the third period and the game-winning goal in overtime on the power play.
"A lot of good things we can build off in our game," Panthers head coach Paul Maurice said. "Both teams found their way to the box tonight. I think we're seeing that in most of the games. It's early [in the season] and they're calling a lot. More discipline, but we have to play with an energy, and we're still learning how to do that."

After the Panthers came up empty on their first two power plays, the Lightning cashed in on their first opportunity when Steven Stamkos beat Sergei Bobrovsky with a one-timer from the left circle for his team-high seventh goal of the season make it 1-0 at 13:04 of the first period.
Of Tampa Bay's 13 goals this season, seven have been scored by Stamkos.
Returning to the lineup after missing the last two games with an upper-body injury, Brandon Montour helped tie the game for the Panthers when he backhanded a puck toward the net that was tipped in by Matthew Tkachuk from right outside the blue paint to make it 1-1 at 15:48.
On fire during his first few games with Florida, Tkachuk is the first player in franchise history to record at least one point in each of the team's first five games to start a season, per NHL PR.
"He's been good from the start of the year," Maurice said of Tkachuk, who has logged eight points (three goals, five assists). "He's our leading scorer now. He's produced every night for us."
Keeping the score knotted up, the penalty kill came up huge for the Panthers near the midway point of the second period. With the killers in front of him standing tall, Bobrovsky stopped all four shots that the Lightning fired at him, including a few high-danger stops from in close.
Taking the lead not long after that kill, the Panthers scored what Maurice often describes as a "chaos goal" when red-hot Rudolfs Balcers pounced on a loose puck in the slot, pulled it to his backhand and fired it straight past Andrei Vasilevskiy and into the cage to make it 2-1 at 15:37.
Bobrovsky finished with 29 saves, while Vasilevskiy made 36 stops.
"I feel good," Balcers said. "I love the team. I love the atmosphere in the room and on the bench. Playing in this building is fun. It's nice to contribute and score some goals, but unfortunately we didn't get the win today."
At 9:29 of the third period, the Lightning evened the score when Point deflected a shot from Nikita Kucherov past Bobrovsky to make it 2-2 and eventually get the game into overtime. On the power play in the extra frame, Point scored again to secure the 3-2 win for the Bolts.
"I think we've got to stay out of the box," Balcers said of the game, which featured a combined 12 power plays between both teams. "The penalties, they go both ways. We could've scored a couple on the power play. On [Tampa Bay's] second goal, I think there was a little miscommunication between us. Obviously in overtime they had a power play. I think it's just that. I think we were better at 5-on-5 and we should've got two points out of this."
At 5-on-5, Florida led 2-1 in goals and 24-14 in scoring chances, per NaturalStatTrick.com.

KEY QUOTES

"We don't have a lot of practices. You go out there and have quick skates and you get some touches. They're unreal players and it's really easy to play with them. I just try to go out there and support them." - Balcers on playing with Tkachuk and Sam Bennett.
"He was really good. I thought he had a quiet start, which always makes you nervous for your goaltender because it's tough to sit there and you always want to get in on that action. With all of the power plays, even if the puck doesn't get to the net, there's so much mental focus by those goaltenders and that's a lot of minutes for him to have to be so wired. He was strong." - Maurice on Bobrovsky's performance.
"Obviously taking a few games off, you never like watching the games. I thought the compete level was good and the legs felt pretty good. Obviously it's not the end result that we wanted, but we came away with a point." - Montour on returning to the lineup.

CATS NOTES

• Florida led 43-32 in shot attempts at 5-on-5.
  - The line of Tkachuk, Bennett and Balcers combined for 14 shots on goal.
  - Aleksander Barkov skated a team-high 25:38.
  - Bennett dished out a team-leading six hits.
  - Radko Gudas blocked a team-high four shots.

WHAT'S NEXT?

The Panthers (3-1-1) will look to pocket more points when they close out their homestand with a rematch against the New York Islanders (2-2-0) at FLA Live Arena on Sunday at 5 p.m. ET.