George Richards, FHN Publisher
HPutting up three goals in the opening frame against Tampa Bay goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy is a good way to kick off a Saturday night and it certainly was for the Panthers.
The Panthers got early goals from Brandon Montour, Sasha Barkov and Jonathan Huberdeau and let Sergei Bobrovsky do his thing as Florida held on for a 5-3 win over the host Lightning.
Florida was held to two goals on 38 shots by Vasilevskiy in Thursday’s 3-2 loss in overtime.
Yet Saturday, Florida took 10 shots in the first period and cashed in on three of them.
Hockey.
The Panthers end up going 1-0-1 in Tampa, getting three out of the four available points.
”You take that every day of the week,” Joel Quenneville said. “We’re happy to go home. It has been a long trip.”
Florida got off to an aggressive start again Saturday with newcomer Sam Bennett getting on the scoresheet on one of his first shifts with the Panthers.
Bennett got the puck to Brandon Montour. His shot appeared to be deflected in by Anthony Duclair and, 8:41 in, the Panthers held a 1-0 lead.
Montour was later credited with the goal making his first point with the Panthers a pretty important one.
Bennett ended up with two assists in his first game.
Not bad.
”That was a lot of fun,’’ said Bennett, who centered Florida’s second line with Huberdeau and Duclair. “We have a really good team here, a great group of guys. It definitely feels good to get a win in my first game.
“It was awesome to be able to play with those guys. They are so talented, so skilled. I don’t think I really knew how good they were until I finally got to play with them.”
Later in the period, with the Lightning caught with too many skaters on the ice, Florida’s power play unit came on with Barkov following up his own rebound off a soft drop by Nikita Gusev in the slot to make it 2-0.
Although it appeared Patric Hornqvist’s calf caught the puck on the way past Vasilevskiy, Barkov was credited with the goal by the league.
Tampa Bay got on the board as everyone assumed they would at 13:40 of the first when Brayden Point got to the side of the cage and rookie Alex Barre-Boulet shot clipped his skate and went past Bobrovsky.
Huberdeau made it a two-goal game again with 7.8 seconds left before the break, scoring off a Markus Nutivaara rebound to make it 3-1.
Florida came out firing in the second period and controlled the pace of play throughout.
The Panthers made it a three-goal game with 2:26 left as Frank Vatrano chased down a loose puck, drove in on Vasilevskiy and dropped in a backhanded beauty.
Tampa Bay did close it back to two goals, however, in the final minute as Erik Cernak sent a wrister past Bobrovsky to make it 4-2.
The Lightning made it a one-goal affair less than two minutes into the third when Matieu Joseph deflected a Victor Hedman point-shot and suddenly, it was 4-3.
”They scored late (in the second), early (in the third) and they were excited,” Quenneville said. “I liked how we played in that response for the rest of the game. We did what we had to do. There was one shift where they had us in our end, but other than that, I thought we did a good job.”
After a number of close calls on both sides of the ice, Duclair drove the length of the ice with Vasilevskiy on the bench and put the puck into the empty net with 49.2 seconds left.
Crisis averted for the Panthers.
Bobrovsky was solid throughout the game and was good in the third as well, ending the night with 28 saves — including eight in the final period.
Stopping Point near the end of the third was huge.
”Game-saving save,’’ Quenneville said. “Everything is on the line and you got the wrong guy with the puck on his stick. He made a great move and Bob made a great pad save coming out of nowhere. It was a huge save for us, you could feel it on the bench. Everyone was excited to see that. We played responsible after that, but that there was an A-plus chance for them.”
The Panthers have evened the season series with the Lightning, each winning three.
”We didn’t get the two points (Thursday) but we deserved them tonight,” Barkov said. “We worked hard, played really good defensively. Bobrovsky was unbelievable in the net and we got some big goals. Great win.”
With Carolina winning again Saturday night, the Hurricanes remain atop the NHL’s Central Division with the Panthers in second one point back.
Tampa Bay is now in third, two points behind Carolina.
The final two games of the season will pit the Panthers and Lightning again, May 8-10 in Sunrise.
After that, we may just see these two in the playoffs.
ACCIARI OUT
With so much depth now, the Panthers can afford to miss a player or two.
On Saturday, Noel Acciari was listed as day-to-day with an upper body injury and missed the game.
Quenneville said it was nothing serious.
With Acciari out, Lucas Wallmark centered the fourth line with Juho Lammikko and Owen Tippett.
Florida also made a few roster moves to get some of its taxi squad players some actual playing time.
Defensemen Brady Keeper and Lucas Carlsson both went down to AHL Syracuse along with forward Aleksi Heponiemi. Coming back to the taxi squad are fowards Cole Schwindt and Scott Wilson.
GEORGE’S THREE STARS OF THE NIGHT
1. Frank Vatrano, Florida
2. Anthony Duclair, Florida
3. Sergei Bobrovsky, Florida
ON DECK: BLUE JACKETS AT PANTHERS
When: Monday, 7
Where: BB&T Center, Sunrise
Tickets: AVAILABLE HERE
Season series: Florida leads 5-1
TV: BS-FLA
Radio: WQAM 560-AM