Lightning Roll By Panthers

     The Florida Panthers lost to the Tampa Bay Lightning 8-5 on Monday night at BB&T Center. The Panthers and Lightning faced each other for the third time in the last 25 days. It was the third game of a five-game home stand for the Cats.
     Both teams combined for five goals during the first period. Tampa Bay(10-2-1) blitzed the Panthers with two goals in the first five minutes of the contest. Braydon Coburn made a slap pass from the left side of the blue line which was redirected by Brayden Point from the slot past James Reimer for a 1-0 lead at 2:48.
     The Bolts expanded the lead to a two-goal margin at the 4:55 mark. Nikita Kucherov scored on a wrist shot from the right circle off a feed by Steven Stamkos in the right corner.
     Florida(4-7-1) put in their first goal midway through the first period to make it 2-1. They dumped the puck into the Lightning zone and then Aaron Ekblad took an acute shot from right wing that squeezed by Andrei Vasilevskiy at 10:31. Jonathan Huberdeau and Aleksander Barkov were credited with assists on the play.
     The Lightning would convert on their first power play of the game with 5:20 left in the first. Victor Hedman connected a pass from the right point to the left circle where Stamkos blasted in a one-time slap shot.
     The Panthers stayed with Bolts and closed the gap to 3-2 with 52.2 seconds remaining in the period. Evgenii Dadonov whipped a pass from the left corner to the middle and Barkov scored on a shot from the edge of the right circle.
     In the second period, Florida finally climbed out of the hole to tie the game 3-3 several seconds following the end of their second power play at 5:32. Barkov passed ahead from the right-circle dot to Huberdeau at the right of the crease. He spun and flicked a backhand shot that hit Vasilevskiy up high and landed in the cage.
     It did not take long for Tampa Bay to retake the lead 4-3 at the 7:17 mark. Point was in the high slot, passed to his left and Onmdrej Palat put the puck into a wide open net.
     The Bolts scored on their second power play at 9:38. Palat sent the puck from the low left circle to Mikhail Sergachev on the left point. He released a wrist shot which was deflected by Yanni Gourde in the slot area. Antti Niemi made his Panthers debut in when he replaced Reimer in net following that goal.
     The Lightning scored again with 4:19 to go in the second and led 6-3. Kucherov centered the puck from the low right circle and Vladislav Namestnikov snapped in a shot for the tally.
     In the third period, the Cats attempted to make one more run toward the lead as they made it 6-4 at the 5:32 mark. Radim Vrbata poke the puck up the left-wing wall to Nick Bjugstad. He backhanded it from the left corner through the crease and Jamie McGinn swept in a backhand shot.
     It was to no avail as Tampa Bay moved back to a three-goal margin at 8:02. Namestnikov moved the puck to Jake Dotchin at the right point. His wrist shot was deflected in by Stamkos in the slot for his second goal of the game and sixth goal of the season.
     Huberdeau would take a snap shot from the low slot which was saved, however Dadonov wristed in a shot with 8:31 left in the third.