TAMPA, Fla. — After another forgettable first period, the Lightning finally got a bit of a spark in the second period Thursday night against the Panthers with plenty of shot opportunities that eventually came to fruition.
And the spark held as Tampa Bay defeated Florida, 3-2, in overtime as Victor Hedman scored on a breakaway 54 seconds into the extra session.
The Panthers’ Patric Hornqvist opened the scoring with 4:47 remaining in the first period after he sent a backhanded shot past Andrei Vasilevskiy (36 saves). By the end of the first, the Panthers had outshot the Lightning 13-4.
Tampa Bay’s chances improved in the second period. Rookie Alex Barre-Boulet had a nice look at Florida’s Chris Driedger (16 saves) from the slot, but the goaltender didn’t take his eyes off the puck.
Another chance came about halfway through the period when Mathieu Joseph found Tyler Johnson just outside of the crease.
But the chances didn’t bring a goal until the Lightning’s first power play of the night. Vasilevskiy set the team up with a long pass down the ice, past the second blue line and found the stick of Alex Killorn.
The Lightning forward skated toward Driedger and shuffled the puck across the top of the crease toward Anthony Cirelli, but Florida’s Mackenzie Weegar — who tried to disrupt the pass — knocked in the pass to tie the score at 1. Killor was credited with the goal, breaking a nine-game scoreless drought dating back March 25 at Dallas.
The aggression picked up toward the end of the period, too, after Cirelli took a tough hit to his left leg from Gudas in the neutral zone after the puck left Cirelli’s stick. The Lightning forward turned around on one leg, landing on his back before he slowly skated off. He was checked by trainers on the bench and played for the remainder of the game.
Florida’s Anthony Duclair broke the tie with 12:47 remaining in the third with a one-timer on the right side.
The Lightning’s hopes didn’t fade, however, as rookie Ross Colton tied it at 2 with 10:03 remaining in regulation. From the blue line, Mikhail Sergachev passed to Colton, who stood to Driedger’s right and knocked the puck in. In 17 games, Colton has scored eight goals.
