TAMPA, Fla. — Before the puck had even dropped, the Lightning knew their matchup Sunday against the Panthers would be a battle.
Florida, despite entering the game two points behind Central Division-leading Tampa Bay (46 points), held a 2-1 season-series lead.
But the Lightning (23-6-2) found their step with Curtis McElhinney in net, finishing with a 5-3 win at Amalie Arena to tie the season series.
Former Lightning forward Carter Verheaghe opened the scoring for the Panthers early in the first period, sliding the puck past McElhinney (29 saves) for a 1-0 lead. But 32 seconds later, the Lightning’s Yanni Gourde answered back to tie it.
In the second, the Lightning took a 2-1 lead as Alex Killorn scored past Sergei Bobrovsky (19 saves), thanks to a helpful bounce after Erik Cernak threw the puck toward the goal crease.
Florida (20-7-4) rallied with a quick goal, but it was waived off after the Lightning challenged it for offsides.
Tampa Bay took a costly penalty toward the end of the period when Blake Coleman, who plays on the top penalty-kill unit, was called for tripping. The Lightning were already without Ryan McDonagh for the period after the defenseman was ruled out with a lower-body injury.
The Lightning almost made it through the penalty until Gustav Forsling capitalized with five seconds remaining with the one-man advantage.
Tampa Bay’s fourth line came out strong in the third period, with Mathieu Joseph scoring past Bobrovsky after rookie Ross Colton worked the puck around the back of the net to make it 3-2.
The lead didn’t last long, however, as the Lightning’s Barclay Goodrow took a costly penalty on the ensuing faceoff, leading to a power-play goal from Florida’s Patrick Hornqvist.
A Panthers penalty gave the Lightning the power-play opportunity it needed to retake the lead. Gourde threaded a pass to Tyler Johnson, who tapped the eventual winner past Bobrovsky. It was Tampa Bay’s first power-play goal after three previous chances.
Brayden Point added an empty-netter with 14.3 seconds left for the final goal.
