In Sunrise, another less than adequate game from the Panthers ended on Thursday night with a loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Ross Colton scored with four seconds left in regulation to give the Lightning a 2-1 win.
“When you’re on the ice with ‘Kuch,’ you’ve got to be ready for anything, and once I saw the puck behind the net, I just went to the front of the net,” Colton said. “He’s got eyes in the back of his head, as you can see, because I didn’t even know that he knew I was there. He gift-wrapped it for me. Luckily it just squeaked under the bar there, but unbelievable play by him.”
Colton was wide open with nary a Panthers player in the same zip code when he roofed the game-winner.
“We’re two games closer to where we want to be but we’re not there yet,” Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper said. “I told you this last time in the last series and I’m going to tell you again: Tonight was just one game. We’re here to win a series.”
Andrei Vasilevskiy made 35 saves to get the Game 2 win.
Game 3 is set for Sunday in Tampa.
With the Florida offense doing a marvelous disappearing act, they are in desperate need of someone on the bloated roster to step up and make an impact on scoresheet in Game 3.
Florida was scoreless in four power play chances.
“Obviously, it’s really hard,” Florida coach Andrew Brunette said. “It’s not easy. It’s one of those things that hurts, obviously, but it’s a roller-coaster ride that we’re in and the sun will come up, wake up and keep playing like we’re playing. I really liked our game. I liked most of our game Game 1 (a 4-1 loss). Just a learning experience again against a team that doesn’t give you too many openings, and we kind of gave away one there.”
Eetu Luostarinen had the Panthers only goal.
Luostarinen scored in the second period to tie the game, 1-1.
Corey Perry scored off the power play at 12:06 of the first period to give the Lightning a 1-0 lead.
“That’s just the sacrifice at this time of the year,” Tampa’s Steve Stamkos said “That’s just the expectation of our group, and everyone’s doing it no matter the situation in the game. It’s contagious. Guys are stepping up, whether it’s an amazing penalty kill at the end, blocked shots, taking a hit to make a play. Guys are willing to do that and it’s a great trait to have as a team.”
The Panthers are scoreless in 25 chances with the extra skater, you have to work to be that bad.
“I liked the early urgency,” Brunette said. “You know, they’re squeezing it. It’s really unbelievable. But I liked the urgency. We had some looks. I thought it was better and it a great opportunity to capitalize there.”
Tampa can put a stranglehold on the series with a win on Saturday.
Sergei Bobrovsky made 27 saves in the loss. He was left without supporting defenders on the game-winner.
“Well, obviously, everybody is disappointed,” Bobrovsky said. “It was quiet, but all the guys are pros. Everybody understands that next game is big. We can make a difference in the future, not in the past, and that’s it. So we have to stay together again and keep working.”
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