How Lightning escaped Sunrise taking 2 huge points from the Panthers
SUNRISE — The Lightning won’t apologize for the way they escaped Amerant Bank Arena with two points Saturday night, especially on the road against one of the top teams in the Eastern Conference.
The Lightning need every point they can get at this time of the year, desperate to secure a playoff berth with just 15 regular-season games remaining.
Their games with the cross-state rival Panthers always have their own juice. They’re exciting, physical, and tests in survival.
And if the Lightning have another deep postseason run in them, they likely will have to will themselves to a win like their 5-3 victory Saturday.
“We were put in some tough situations to get ourselves out and protect a lead and we did it,” Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. “You can look at those challenges and say, ‘Boys, you passed.’ Is that a recipe for success long term? No, but we will be in those situations again. And we did it against a really, really good hockey team.”
The Lightning ran out to a 4-0 lead seven minutes into the second period, but allowed the Panthers back into the game with a turnstile into the penalty box, giving Florida more than 11 minutes on the man advantage, leaving goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy to face a barrage of shots.
Vasilevskiy was in Conn Smythe form, stopping 47 of 50. The Panthers outshot the Lightning 50-16 on the night and held a 38-5 shot advantage in the final two periods.
The win was the Lightning’s third straight — all against teams currently holding playoff positions in the East. The Panthers (45-19-4, 94 points) took back-to-back regulation losses for the first time in nearly three months. The Lightning (36-25-6, 78 points) sit in the first wild-card playoff position, four points ahead of Detroit in the second spot, with four more teams within six points of the Red Wings.
“We knew this stretch was going to be tough,” captain Steven Stamkos said. “We’re playing some really good teams and we found a way to get some huge points for us in the standings. So we’ve just got to keep going here.”
A strong start
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/tbt/SV45BTTRCDYVDGLZPOOM3Q6ZSY.jpg "Lightning center Steven Stamkos, right, celebrates his goal with center Anthony Cirelli (71) and left wing Brandon Hagel, center, during the first period.")
Stamkos has been quiet of late, but he can score in bunches when he starts heating up.
After notching the game-winner against the Rangers on Thursday, Stamkos put the Lightning up 1-0 just 20 seconds in Saturday. Leading a 2-on-1 breakaway, Stamkos tried to pass to Brandon Hagel across the slot, but the puck hit Panthers defenseman Brandon Montour’s skate and slid past goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky.
