George Richards, FHN Publisher
The Florida Panthers got off to another strong start Saturday but found out that sometimes, no matter what, Tampa Bay just has too much firepower.
And the Lightning know how to use it.
Not that they Panthers really needed the reminder.
This, they have seen before.
On Saturday night, the Panthers and Lightning played a very even game for 20 minutes, but a pair of quick goals in the second period was enough to propel Tampa Bay to a 6-1 win at BB&T Center.
At least the Panthers’ new sweaters looked good.
”We didn’t come to play for the full 60 minutes,” MacKenzie Weegar said. “We were in it for a bit and then the second period came. They started to take it to us.
“We expected them to come with a big push, they’re the Stanley Cup champions for a reason. We weren’t ready for it, plain and simple.”
Florida took the opener of the three-game, home-and-home series on Thursday; it concludes Monday in Tampa.
The Panthers would really like to bounce back Monday, show the Lightning — and perhaps, themselves — that Thursday’s victory was no fluke, no mirage.
“We lost our composure when they went ahead,” coach Joel Quenneville said. “The game got away from us, we got away from what we did that was successful. They were the hungrier team and had one of those games where they were outplayed in the first one and they know how to win.
”They came with a different appetite. We were chasing it.”
Some of the feistiness shown in the third could carry over as well. The game did get a little chippy as it drew to a close.
When things were close, as after a scoreless first, the Lightning showed it could turn things on a dime.
In the second, Tampa Bay scored four times to effectively put this one away fairly early.
Thursday’s game: Florida Panthers 5, Tampa Bay Lightning 2
Four minutes into the period, the Lightning took a lead it would not surrender when Ondrej Palat scored off the Lightning’s second power play try of the night.
A mere 81 seconds later, Mathieu Joseph blocked a shot from Alex Wennberg, jumped on the puck and drove in on Sergei Bobrovsky.
The Lightning score two other goals in the period — including Tyler Johnson’s mop-up job in front of the net with 10.4 seconds on the clock — for a commanding lead.
Bobrovsky made 28 saves as he dropped his first game in regulation this season (5-1-1).
Don’t blame this one on Bob, however.
In the second period, anyway, the Lightning got the puck in the Florida zone and never seemed to leave.
The Panthers simply did not have an answer for the Tampa Bay Swarm — and Bobrovsky appeared to do as much as one could expect under that onslaught.
“We had too much loose stuff, basically exiting our zone in the middle of the ice we didn’t manage the puck well,” Quenneville said.
“We didn’t get many cycle shifts or zone shifts. We played too much in our end. We poorly executed some of our exits and their transition game was successful based on what we gave to them. They have some pretty handy guys … they know how to turn nothing into something quickly.”
Tampa Bay goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy made 33 saves as he bounced back from Thursday’s loss.
The Lightning has won 11 of 14 against the Panthers over the past four seasons.
Duclair back in action
The Panthers had Anthony Duclair back after he spent the past two days on the NHL’s Covid-19 protocol list.
Duclair first went on the list before Thursday’s game against the Lightning and was on it again Friday.
It appeared the Panthers knew he would be coming back as Quenneville had a brief chat with both Brett Connolly and Juho Lammikko following the morning skate, presumptively to tell one of them they may not be in the lineup later that evening.
With Duclair back and on the top line, Connolly returned to the fourth (where he was slated to start Thursday before Duclair was ruled out) and Lammikko was scratched.
“It was nice, we missed him the last game,’’ Sasha Barkov said. “It was good to see him back, he’s a huge part of our offense and our game.
“Great guy to have around the team. We’re happy to have him back. I thought he played great, created a lot of chances. He just couldn’t score today — we couldn’t score today.”
Moment of Remembrance
With the third anniversary of the mass shooting at Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High in nearby Parkland happening on Sunday, the Panthers held a moment of silence to honor those killed that day.
The lights in the arena were dimmed and the 17 names of those killed in one of the worst school shootings in history scrolled on the scoreboard.
The solemn video presentation ended with the Douglas Eagles logo and the hashtag #NeverForget.
First period highlights
The two teams played a scoreless opener, with the Panthers outshooting Tampa Bay 11-4.
Florida got five of those shots on Vasilevskiy on a four-minute power play when Alex Killorn got hit with a four-minute high-stick on Aaron Ekblad.
Not long after Killorn got out of the penalty box, he went right back after getting into a tussle with MacKenzie Weegar which also included the likes of Luke Schenn, Ryan Lomberg and Noel Acciari.
Tampa Bay looked good on the 4-on-4 as one may expect, but it was the Panthers with the big scoring chance. Sasha Barkov’s shot off a pass from Duclair went off the post.
The Lightning also had a shot carom out earlier in the period when Brayden Point — who scored both of Tampa’s goals Thursday — rang one through.
Second period highlights
This period belonged completely to the visitors who scored four goals — one of the power play — to all but end the game early.
Florida did, however, have plenty of chances.
Duclair, especially.
The so-called snakebitten forward has definitely had his share of bad puck luck this season and continued that here.
With just over three minutes left in the third and the Panthers down 3-0, there was a scramble in front of the net. Vasilevskiy went down and the puck was just sitting there. Duclair jumped on it, staring at the empty net.
Duclair shot it — but didn’t get enough air underneath it as somehow, someway, Vasilevskiy snared the puck.
Duclair could be heard on the Fox Florida broadcast screaming obscenities — at himself.
One has to believe he will either get his first goal soon or will never score again.
We’ll see.
Third period highlights
Well, it was fun seeing Radko Gudas get into his first fight 12 games into his career as a member of the Panthers.
Gudas took on Barclay Coleman, got some licks in, but hit the deck.
And the 50/50 raffle hit its highest mark since opening night.
That would have been about it had Frank Vatrano not scored to make it 4-1 with 10:13 left in the game for his second in as many games.
This one, unlike his bang-in from the doorstep, was a nice snipe as he charged in on Vasilevskiy. Vatrano showed both his speed and his can-be-lethal shot on that one.
Anyway, just a minute later, Alexander Volkov scored off a beauty of a feed from Gemel Smith and it was time to check and see if the raffle had grown any since the last time we checked.
It had not.
Up Next: Florida Panthers at Tampa Bay Lightning
When: Monday, 7 p.m.
Where: Amalie Arena, Tampa
TV/Radio: FSF/560-AM