SUNRISE, Fla. _ Dale Tallon, president of hockey operations, said after the first intermission with the Florida Panthers ahead 1-0 that he was satisfied with his team's overall effort so far this season, but was concerned about several blown leads due to mistakes by some of his young players.
As if on cue, a rare blunder by defenseman Alex Petrovic gave the Tampa Bay Lightning life early in the third period, however, Reilly Smith made a spectacular individual effort before rifling in the winner with 4:28 left for a 3-1 victory over their intrastate rivals Monday night at the BB&T Center.
Tied at 1, Smith stole the puck from Lightning defenseman Victor Hedman inside the Panthers' blue line, then split two defenders before ripping a wrister from the middle of the left faceoff circle and past the stick side of Lightning goalie Ben Bishop (30 saves). It was Smith's third goal and second in two games.
Captain Derek MacKenzie added an empty-netter with 35.5 seconds left to ice the victory in this first game of a three-game homestand, and help the Panthers get back to .500 (6-6-1). It's MacKenzie's first goal of the season, ending a 25-game goal drought.
The victory couldn't have been achieved without the goaltending of Roberto Luongo (34 saves), who ended a four-game losing streak, his worst slide in regulation since rejoining the Panthers for a second stint in March 2014. He went 0-4-1 from Jan. 13-27, 2015.
Through no fault of his own, Luongo's bid for a shutout ended 1:15 into the third period when Petrovic fanned on his clearing attempt behind his own net. The puck ended up on the doorstep where Lightning winger Ondrej Palat alertly swatted it through a surprised Luongo for a 1-1 tie.
Luongo argued that Palat pushed his pad into the net with his stick, but to no avail. The unassisted goal was Palat's second of the season.
The scoreless second period was all about the goaltenders as Luongo and Ben Bishop took turns making spectacular saves. Luongo stopped three point-blank chances, including two from Lightning forward Nikita Kucherov and then a goal-mouth attempt by the always dangerous Steven Stamkos (7 goals, 14 points). It was Stamkos who tied the score with 5.5 seconds left in Florida's 4-3 shootout loss on Oct. 18.
Bishop needed all 6-foot-6 of his frame to deny Denis Malgin on a breakaway and then needed his extended left pad to deny a stuff shot by Jared McCann with 1:48 left in the period. The puck teetered near the goal line but the no-goal call was upheld on a review by the Situation Room in Toronto.
The only object that landed in the net was Panthers forward Jaromir Jagr after his slot-shot was swept aside by Bishop as the buzzer ended the period with Florida still up 1-zip. Jagr didn't play the final two periods in Saturday's 4-2 loss to the Capitals because of a charley horse, but after skating by himself Sunday night, deemed himself fit to play.
McCann took a high stick to the mouth from Brayden Coburn just 2:28 into the game. The Panthers wasted no time in notching their fourth power-play goal in the past three games when a Jonathan Marchessault took a pass from defenseman Keith Yandle at the top of the right circle and fired it past Ben Bishop's glove for a 1-0 lead at 3:10.
Marchessault, showing the Lightning what they let get away in the offseason, scored his seventh goal, which tied for second most in the NHL and matched his career high set last season in 45 games with Tampa Bay. He has a team-leading 13 points in 13 games.
Yandle, who was acquired by the Panthers to fortify their power play, notched his fifth assist in the last six games, and now has three power-play helpers. Aleksander Barkov received the secondary assist to snap an eight-game point drought which matched the longest of his career that was set in his rookie season of 2013.
The 7-5-1 Lightning, who entered the game on a four-game, power-play goal streak (6-of-19), were unable to score on a 46-second, 5-on-3 advantage in the opening period. They were 0-for-3 on power-play opportunities through the first two periods.
