Saturday, October 9, 2021

Lightning Sneak By Panthers

     The Florida Panthers fell to the Tampa Bay Lightning 4-2 at FLA Live Arena on Saturday night. The Panthers finished the preseason with a 5-2 record. The Cats will open the 2021-22 campaign at home against the Pittsburgh Penguins on Wednesday night. 
     Neither team was able to score in the first period. The Panthers had numerous shooting opportunities and outshot the Bolts 18-9 in the opening frame.
     Florida broke the scoreless tie at the 4:51 mark of the second period. Owen Tippett tapped the puck in the slot area and Jonathan Huberdeau pushed to the left point. Kevin Connauton blasted a slap shot from above the top left circle for his second goal of the preseason. Tippett picked up his team-high seventh preseason point. 
     Tampa Bay evened it up at 7:31of the second. Steven Stamkos passed from the right wing and Alex Killorn scored on a wrist shot from the low slot by Sergei Bobrovsky for his first goal of the preseason campaign. Anthony Cirelli received a secondary assist on the play. 
     The Panthers reclaimed the lead 2-1 just 27 seconds later. Aleksander Barkov chipped the puck from the right corner to Carter Verhaeghe on the end wall. He fed a pass to the middle and Sam Reinhart snapped a shot from the slot area past Andrei Vasilevskiy for his second preseason goal. 
     In the third period, the Lightning tied it 2-2 exactly one minute in. Ondrej Palat passed it from the right wing to Erik Cernak on the right point. He dragged it to the top of the zone and fired a slap shot. Bobrovsky made the initial save, however Brayden Point flipped in the rebound from the front of the crease for his club-high sixth point of the postseason. 
     The Bolts scored on a power-play goal with 7:56 remaining in the third period. There was a scramble for the loose puck in the blue paint and Pat Maroon pushed it in. 
     It became 4-2 for Tampa Bay with 5:59 left in the third on another power-play tally. Palat centered the puck from the right-wing boards and Maroon shoveled in a backhand shot from right circle into the top portion of the cage. 

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