The Lightning returned from the holiday break with their third straight win and second of the season over the Florida Panthers. The third matchup between the teams Saturday night at Amerant Bank Arena had everything you’d expect: plenty of animosity and a penalty box that was standing room only.
The two teams combined for 45 penalties with Tampa Bay’s penalty kill holding firm through 10 Panthers power plays. Prior to the game, the NHL issued warnings to both the Panthers and Lightning not to “go over the line,” Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reported during the Saturday Headlines segment on Hockey Night in Canada. Of the 136 combined penalty minutes, 87 were assessed to the Lightning.
“I don't think I've ever been part of a game in the regular season, where there was double-digit power plays,” said Lightning coach Jon Cooper. “They had 11 power plays in one game. It was a one-goal game for most of the game and one team was short 11 times.. I don’t know. I'll have to look into that a little bit. That’s crazy.”
With their usual penalty killers in the box, the Lightning had to lean on players who don’t normally see PK time, including Jake Guentzel, who scored shorthanded.
“You don’t want to play these guys that much, but he’s a special player that can play both special teams and ultimately came up big for us and got a short-handed goal,” Cooper said of Guentzel. “So that was quite an effort by those guys.”
The Panthers struck first at 5:37 in the first period when Eetu Luostarinen batted a loose puck past the goalie off a pass from Mackie Samoskevich. The Lightning quickly responded with three unanswered goals.
Guentzel tied it 1-1 on a short-handed breakaway following a Panthers turnover. A second miscue in the neutral zone set up Lightning forward Pontus Holmberg on a breakaway, and he scored to give the Bolts a 2-1 lead with eight seconds remaining.
Nikita Kucherov, who brought a physical edge all night, extended the Lightning’s lead to 3-1 in the second period, finishing a sneaky 2-on-1 with Brayden Point. He later sealed the win with an empty-net goal.
“Everyone stepped up and took care of their business,’’ Guentzel said. “Eat a couple of kills there at the end, and our goalie was fantastic. We got the job done. That’s a big two points coming out of the break and hopefully it gets us going.’’
The history between these two teams is well documented, and past missed calls have only fueled the hostility. Last night, the Lightning dug in, earning a much-needed win that puts them in a second-place tie in the Atlantic Division with Montreal and three points ahead of the Panthers.
The Bolts will host Montreal on Sunday night at Benchmark International Arena.