In Tampa, Tyler Johnson’s power-play goal in the third period gave the Lightning a 4-3 lead en route to a 5-3 decision over the Florida Panthers on Sunday.
Brayden Point iced the win with an empty-net goal for the final.
“It was tough mentally,” the Lightning’s Alex Killorn said. “We knew coming into the season the games were going to be pretty compressed, but to play five in seven days … we didn’t even do that in the AHL, I think. Really happy with the way we battled through these five.”
Curtis McElhinney made 29 saves in the win.
“[The win] felt great,” McElhinney said. “It was one of those games where there were a lot of shots early on and it allowed me to get in the game right away. They’ve got a great hockey team over there. They have made some nice additions in the offseason and they are certainly playing the right way. It was nice to be on the right side of that one tonight.”
Carter Verhaeghe, Gustav Forsling and Patric Hornqvist were the Florida strikers.
“We were head-to-head all game. I like the way we battled back,” Verhaeghe said. “It’s going to be a battle all year with these guys. They’re a good team and they play physical. We matched that. No one is backing down here.”
The Panthers dropped to 20-7-4.
“It’s one of those games where you play these guys, it’s going to be tight,” the Panthers’ Keith Yandle said. “I really liked our effort. I thought we worked hard, we played hard for 60 minutes. Obviously there are points in the game where you can learn from and get better from. I think we’ll do that and move on.”
Yanni Gourde had a goal to tie the game at 1-1, and Alex Killorn gave the Bolts their first lead at 2-1.
“The guys … they circled the wagon,” Lightning head coach Jon Cooper said. “We kept inching away and they kept coming back. There was no time to hang your head. In the end, our special teams got through, we killed off a couple of big [power plays] and scored one ourselves.”
Mathieu Joseph also scored for the Lightning.
Sergei Bobrovsky made 19 saves in the losing effort.
“I saw a couple of different angles on it, and just using common sense that the area where the puck appears in afterwards was vacant,” Panthers head coach Joel Quenneville said. “And the next picture, the puck you can argue was still over the line. It’s not conclusive, but there’s no puck there when you see the area, and all of a sudden that same area … common sense says it has to be in the net.”
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