In Sunrise the Florida Panthers opened their second round series with the Tampa Bay Lightning on Tuesday night. You would never know anything was really on the line.
The Panthers came out flat, sagged a bit more, and inevitably lost, 4-1 in Game 1.
Game 2 is Thursday night back in Sunrise.
“I was happy with our game,” Panthers coach Andrew Brunette said. “It was the little things. And that’s what they do so well, that’s why they have won a couple of Cups. It’s the little things. It’s a little face-off, it’s shorthanded trying to score out of nothing. It’s special teams. It is all these little things that they excel at and we’re still learning. Again, unfortunately, we have to learn again tonight. We’ll be better next game.”
That is just a mystery.
The Lightning went 3-for-6 on the power play.
Andrei Vasilevskiy made 33 saves in the Tampa win.
Anthony Duclair was the lone striker for the Panthers, his first period goal gave Florida a 1-0 lead.
“We knew, right away our coaching staff told us that wasn’t going to be a goal,” Duclair said. “So you turn the page, get right back at it.”
To say it was all downhill after that would suggest there was an upside to the Florida game.
“Anytime I get the chance to play with some great players, some key players, I want to be out there and do my best,” Duclair said. “I was just trying to be myself out there.”
Corey Perry hit for a power play goal in the middle frame to get the Bolts even at 1-1.
“Yeah, that was effortless,” Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. “I’ve always said about ‘Kuch,’ he knows what the guy he’s going against will do before they do, and he made that one look easy.
“It’s a 1-0 game and the second period is dwindling down, and for us to get that goal, special teams have been a big part of these playoffs so far and that was another big play. But to give us a little boost going in after the second all tied up, now it’s a 20-minute game and we won the period.”
In the third stanza, the Lightning scored three times, including two power play strikes.
Pierre-Edouard Bellemare scored the game winner at 3:35 of the third.
“It’s fun to be able to help the team offensively at times,” Bellemare said. “Our line, last series we had to kind of manage when we were on the ice, and tonight it was more about trying to build momentum for the team when we’re out there. Corey got a big goal, and my goal was just a simple play. Credit to the coach for putting us in an offensive face-off.”
Nikita Kucherov hit for the second power play goal of the game to give Tampa a 3-1 lead, his goal came at 15:54.
Ross Colton added another power play strike less than two minutes later to seal the win with the 4-1 final.
Sergei Bobrovsky made 32 saves in the Panthers loss.
You must be logged in to post a comment.