Recap: Panthers fall to the Lightning

It was another hard-fought effort for the Florida Panthers, but they fell to the Tampa Bay Lightning in overtime for their fourth straight loss. With this, the Panthers have a 10-2-3 record, but have lost five out of their last seven games. Thankfully, only two of them have come in regulation, though.

Let’s take a dive into last night’s events.

The first period was pretty tame when it came to scoring chances. Each team only recorded six shots each during it. However, even with that, we did have a goal scored. Back-to-back-to-back Stanley Cup champion Pat Maroon deflected a sweet pass by Ross Colton past Sergei Bobrovsky for his second of the year.

Things became wild in the second period, though, as Patric Hornqvist fought Lightning star Brayden Point. Point isn’t known as being a fighter, so this was certainly a surprising moment. It also seemed to spark the Lightning, too, as Victor Hedman scored less than 30 seconds after to give them a 2-0 lead.

However, the Panthers responded well by scoring two goals of their own before the end of the period. First, Jonathan Huberdeau put in his fourth of the season with a fantastic shot. Then ,just 36 seconds after, Eetu Luostarinen scored his fifth of the campaign after tipping in a shot by Aaron Ekblad.

There were no goals during the third period due to strong goaltending on both sides. From here, the Panthers and Lightning went to overtime. It would only last two minutes, though. Carter Verhaeghe turned the puck over in the offensive zone to Ondrej Palat. This led Palat to make a long pass to Point and he scored on the breakaway.

It was such a hard way to lose, but the Panthers will now have to regroup when they play against the New York Islanders on Tuesday night.

Lastly, even though Verhaeghe’s turnover was costly, let’s not forget that he’s been one of Florida’s best players all season. In 15 games, he has three goals and 12 points. Don’t be surprised to see him make up for his mistake next game with a grand performance.