Steven Stamkos looked like Andrei Vasilevskiy last night.
The Tampa Bay Lightning lost 5-3 to the Florida Panthers in Game 3. With this loss, they trail now the Cats 3-0 in the series and need to win four straight games to save their season.
There's no question that this loss to the Panthers is immensely deflating, but the Lightning will now need to take it a game at a time and give everything they have.
While the Lightning picked up the loss in Game 3, captain Steven Stamkos did everything he could to keep Tampa Bay in it. Besides scoring a goal on the night, he also, shockingly, played goalie.
Steven Stamkos With the Lightning looking to tie the game up, they pulled Andrei Vasilevskiy for the extra attacker. With the goalie pulled, Panthers forward Vladimir Tarasenko had the puck in the Lightning's zone and seemed to have a clear goal. However, Stamkos made a remarkable save on Tarasenko. For good measure, he even choked up on his stick and positioned himself like a goalie on the play.
While Matthew Tkachuk went on to score the empty-netter and put Game 3 to bed, it is impossible not to give Stamkos respect for this play. He did whatever he could to stop the Panthers from scoring, and he made a highlight reel save because of it.