TAMPA – An extreme hush draped Amalie Arena as the Florida Panthers maintained a 1-0 lead over the Tampa Bay Lightning midway through the third period. Living through every shift was a test of will for the denizens who had hoped to see the Bolts draw even after the Game 1 loss.
This lack of audibility changed when Florida forward Mackie Samokevich was assessed a two-minute roughing penalty at 8:33 in the third. The Lightning had an opportunity to finally draw even on the power play, but the tie never occurred.
With 42 seconds left in the power play, the Bolts’ opportunities dimmed as Brandon Hagel was handed a five-minute interference penalty after he leveled Panthers center Aleksander Barkov against the glass on the left side of the ice. Barkov gathered himself and skated away and into the Florida locker room and never returned.
The five-minute penalty was questionable given the situation, and it changed the rhythm and the flow of the contest as Tampa Bay’s opportunity to tie the game became less likely. The Cats sat on the power play during the next 4:22 and Florida goalie Sergei Bobrovsky stayed the course in turning away Lightning opportunities.
“You know if they score on that, you are looking at a tough situation,” said Lightning head coach Jon Cooper. “We got through it and tried to give ourself a chance in the end and it didn’t happen. Five minutes in a 1-0 game with nine minutes to play is a tough situation to be in.”
Tampa Bay net-minder Andrei Vasilevskiy matched Bobrovsky as Florida’s lone score came at 4:45 in the first period when the Panthers won a face-off in the Tampa Bay zone and Sam Reinhart passed to Nate Schmidt for the Panthers’ lone goal before Sam Bennett’s empty-netter at 19:57 in the third.
In the end, Bobrovsky turned away 19 Lightning shots while Vasilevkiy stopped 21 of 23 Florida attempts.
Tampa Bay led the NHL with 3.56 goals per game this season, but Florida has played a more physical brand of hockey as their defense has been the primary key in the Panthers’ 2-0 series lead.
The Panthers and Lightning have been third and fourth in the league as Tampa Bay has 2.68 goals against while the Panthers have a 2.7 GAA.
“They’re really good at defending,” said Tampa Bay center Brayden Point. “I think it’s tight checking and I think we have to put more pucks on ‘Bob’ (Bobrovsky) and try to reach the net.”
The course of action is lying clearly in front of the Bolts when the two face off for Game Three in Sunrise, Fla., on Saturday afternoon.
“These are two good teams, good tight teams,” said Cooper. “I don’t know that there were scoring chances either way that had us sitting there saying, ‘Holy Cow!’ Teams check. That’s what happens. It’s the playoffs.”
