In Tampa, the Lightning scored the first and final goals of their match with the Florida Panthers. The issue was the mess in between those bookends.
The Panthers scored nine straight goals on Saturday in a 8-2 thrashing of the Lightning.
Matthew Tkachuk and Sam Bennett each hit for doubles in the win.
Sergei Bobrovsky made 28 saves in the win.
Panthers improved to 36-15-4 off their 11th straight road win.
Tampa took a 1-0 lead with 24 seconds gone in the opening stanza on a strick by Brandon Hagel.
Brandon Montour knotted the game, 1-1, at 7:01 of the first period.
Bennett hit for his first of the contest 12:28 for a 2-1 lead to the Panthers
Kevin Stenlund stretched the lead to 3-1 at 17:44 off a shot from the left circle.
Gustav Forsling ballooned the lead to 4-1 at 18:38 of the first, and the rout was on.
Tampa dropped to 30-21-5.
Tkachuk hit for his double to open the middle frame, his first came with off a power-play with 23 seconds gone in the period.
He collected his double at 1:37 for a 6-1 advantage. .
Carter Verhaeghe got in on the action when he pushed the lad to 7-1 at 1:05 of the third period.
Bennett’ collected his double at off the power play at 1:56 for an 8-1 count.
Verhaeghe then added his second of the game at 4:09 of the third to make it a ridiculous 9-1 score..
Brayden Point hit off the power play midway through the third period for the lipstick goal in the 9-2 loss.
Andrei Vasilevskiy got the start for Tampa and made 16 saves before getting the hook in the second intermission. He yielded six goals in the loss.
Jonas Johansson made six saves in a mop up role in the third period.
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