In Tampa, Sam Reinhart hit for his second goal of the game in the third period to give the visiting Florida Panthers a 3-1 lead over the Lighting.
Reinhart scored off a shorthanded strike, it proved to be the winner in a 3-2 decision to the Panthers.
“We had to be smarter in certain areas, especially at the end of shifts, to minimize their chances,” Reinhart said. “Pace and simplicity. It’s an easy game we’re playing. Everyone is predictable and easy to read out there.”
With the win, the Panthers improved to 20-12-2,
“We’ll take it. First game after Christmas, you never know what you’re going to get,” Florida coach Paul Maurice said. “They worked hard, they fought hard. We’re pretty close to where we want to be.”
Sergei Bobrovsky made 27 saves in the win.
“It’s a big win for us against a really good team,” Bobrovsky said. “It’s always a rivalry and it’s a great fight. They are a smart team offensively and create good chances. You have to be alert. It’s a great opponent and we all bring our best against each other.”
The Panthers took a 1-0 lead in the opening stanza when Aaron Ekblad scored at 4:16.
Reinhart scored his first of the gamer at 1:24 of the middle frame for a 2-0 lead to the Panthers.
“I think the focus was to try to get it in their zone and have some [offensive] zone time,” the Panthers’ Evan Rodrigues said. “The past couple of games we’ve gotten back to wearing teams down. I think that’s when we’re successful. We’ve gotten back to that the past two games.”
The Lightning dropped to 17-14-5,
“They got that early goal, and it probably took a little air out of our tires,” Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper said. “I don’t know why because there was plenty of game left. It’s a little disappointing to come out of the break at home and to have the state rival beat us on home ice. That’s disappointing.”
Nikita Kucherov trimmed the deficit to 2-1 for Tampa with 29Â gone in the third period.
“He (Bobrovsky) made some nice saves, not only on me, but on other chances we had,” Tampa’s Brayden Point said. “He’s playing well and played well tonight. I had to try to get around the [defenseman] there. I thought I made a good play, and he was still able to get across. It was a really great save at a big time in the game.”
Reinhart scored his double at 3:11 for a 3-1 advantage.
Tampa clawed their way back to a one-goal deficit when Michael Eyssimont hit off the power play for a 3-2 score at 3:31 for the final count.
“It was deflating when they made it 3-1, so to bounce back like that gave us a chance for sure,” Eyssimont said. “We were around Bobrovsky all night and they were boxing us out. We’re trying to get in there, but we were losing the battles.”
Andrei Vasilevskiy made 27 saves in the loss.
You must be logged in to post a comment.