Lightning Bounce Back with Win Over Panthers

The Tampa Bay Lightning bounced back from a recent blowout loss with a decisive 3-1 victory over the Florida Panthers on Saturday. According to the Miami Herald, Jack Finley made a significant impact by scoring his first NHL goal, which turned out to be the game-winner, early in the third period.

Finley's goal came after Florida defenseman Donovan Sebrango fell, allowing him to skate in alone and backhand the puck past goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky for a 2-1 lead at the 4:09 mark. Emil Lilleberg opened the scoring for Tampa Bay with a wrist shot that found its way over Bobrovsky's blocker and under the crossbar, giving the Lightning a 1-0 advantage 12:19 into the game.

The Lightning's Zemgus Girgensons sealed the win with an empty-net goal, making the final score 3-1. The Lightning improved to 8-2-0 in their last ten games, showcasing their resilience after a previous 7-3 loss to the New York Rangers.

In that loss, Tampa Bay was outmatched, but they rebounded effectively against their rival Panthers, as noted by Deadspin. Goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy made 23 saves, demonstrating solid performance in net.

Despite the loss, Florida’s Brad Marchand extended his point streak to ten games with a goal, but the Panthers struggled on the power play, going 1-for-5 and missing a crucial four-minute opportunity in the third period.

This game featured high physicality and intensity, with notable plays including an elbow delivered by Florida's Sam Bennett to Nikita Kucherov, which led to the Lightning's first power play. Although Tampa Bay failed to score on that power play, the momentum shift helped them control the game thereafter.

The match was tightly contested, with the Lightning holding a slight shot advantage of 17-13 over the Panthers through two periods, as reported by Yahoo Sports. The Lightning's depth players stepped up significantly, especially with Brandon Hagel sidelined due to injury.

They executed a strong defensive game, successfully killing off multiple penalties, which was key to their victory. As Raw Charge highlighted, the Lightning's ability to limit mistakes and maintain focus under physical play contributed to their success.

The Lightning will look to build on this momentum in their next match against the Vancouver Canucks, while the Panthers will need to regroup after this setback on home ice.