SUNRISE, Fla. – Before they knocked down the door with two goals in 11 seconds, the Florida Panthers cracked open their would-be comeback with a masterful five minutes.
Trailing the Tampa Bay Lightning 2-1 in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference First Round at Amerant Bank Arena on Tuesday, the defending Stanley Cup champions entered do-or-die mode just 19 seconds into the third period following a boarding penalty for Niko Mikkola.
A five-minute major, the Lightning found themselves heading to an extended power play.
But as it has been for some time now, Florida’s penalty kill was up to the task.
Standing tall for the entire kill, they allowed just one shot on goal.
“That was huge,” forward Anton Lundell said. “It actually went pretty fast, I feel like. We did a good job of killing the penalty there, and huge shoutout to [goalie Sergei Bobrovsky] and all the guys who were blocking shots there. It was very important in that game, and I feel like we got some more momentum from that, and we got more energy and jump after that.”
Taking a closer look at the penalty kill, you couldn’t have asked for more.
Right off the bat, Nico Sturm won a defensive-zone faceoff and cleared the puck.
It would be 21 seconds until the Lightning were able to re-enter the offensive zone.
With 4:18 left on kill, Aaron Ekblad chased down a loose puck and knocked it up the ice to Sturm, who carried it out of the zone and allowed the Panthers to get a needed line change.
On the next entry for Tampa Bay, Dmitry Kulikov, who slid into Mikkola’s usual spot alongside Seth Jones on the penalty kill, quickly sent the puck back out of the zone.
Not letting the Lightning set up in the zone, the Panthers limited them to just 10 seconds in the offensive zone following their next entry before Lundell swiped the puck and cleared it.
Soon after, Lundell shut down another shift for Tampa Bay with a second clear.
After a forecheck from Brad Marchand ate up a few more seconds off the clock, Nikita Kucherov carried the puck back into Florida’s zone, but it stayed there for only a few seconds before Eetu Luostarinen whacked it over to Sturm for yet another key clear.
With still no stoppages and nearly three minutes already killed off, Victor Hedman recorded Tampa Bay’s first and only shot on goal of the power play, which was switfly turned aside by Sergei Bobrovsky.
With 1:11 left on the kill, Gustav Forsling blocked a shot from Kucherov with his skate.
With 36 seconds left, Lundell blocked as shot from Darren Raddysh to ignite the crowd.
After that, Marchand intercepted a pass in the neutral zone to eat up more time.
Putting an end to the power play and blowing the roof off the arena, Brayden Point high-sticked Luostarinen with seven seconds left on the penalty kill to get the action back to even at 4-on-4.
With no stoppages over the entire 4:53 of their power play, the Lightning had nothing to show for it.
“A lot of guys stepped up and did their job,” said Jones, who saw 3:19 of shorthanded ice time in Game 4. “Bob (Bobrovsky) made big saves when he needed to, but we tried to keep the pressure on them. Our PK has been pretty solid this whole series.”
Solid would be an understatement.
Since Jake Guentzel lit the lamp on the power play for the Lightning in the first period of Game 1, the Panthers have gone a perfect 14-for-14 on the penalty kill.
As always, good defense is eventually rewarded with offense.
Following their five-minute kill in Game 4, the Panthers went on to score a pair of goals within a span of just 11 seconds late in regulation to go ahead 3-2 in an eventual 4-2 win.
Fittingly, it was two of the team’s top killers – Ekblad and Jones – that scored the back-to-back goals.
Heading back to Tampa with a 3-1 series lead, the penalty kill will continue to be crucial for the Panthers as they now attempt to eliminate their in-state rival and advance to Round 2.
Game 5 is set to get underway at 7:30 p.m. ET on Wednesday at Amalie Arena.
“It started with the kill,” head coach Paul Maurice said of the come-from-behind win in Game 4. “That was such an important piece to the game, but keeping that belief, you come out of it and you think something good is going to happen.”
