Coming off a dominating Game One win, the Tampa Bay Lightning looked to steal another one on the road. It wasn’t easy but they did, thanks largely to Ross Colton’s game-winning goal with 3.8 seconds left.
That stunned the Florida Panthers who controlled this game for the most part, but find themselves down 2-0 in the series.
Game Recap
Entering this game, the Lightning needed to be ready for whatever the Panthers threw at them. They were early, as the Cats physicality didn’t throw them off their game.
In fact, a hooking penalty by Brandon Montour about midway through gave the Bolts a power play. They continued their recent hot streak, with Corey Perry beating Sergei Bobrovsky for the 1-0 lead.
From there, the Panthers took control of the game. They drew penalties, generated offense and peppered Lightning netminder Andrei Vasilevskiy for the next 39 minutes.
While Tampa Bay successfully killed three Panther power plays, the mental fatigue got to them late in the second period. Eetu Luostarinen shot the puck on net and it squeezed under the arm of Vasilevskiy to tie the game at one.
The final frame featured brilliant goaltending by both Bobrovsky and Vasilevskiy. As time ticked off the clock, it became clear that this game was going to be decided in overtime. Or so we thought.
Panthers defenseman MacKenzie Weegar went behind the net to pressure Nikita Kucherov, leaving Colton wide open in front of Bobrovsky. Under pressure by two Panthers, Kucherov sent a perfect pass to Colton who didn’t miss. 2-1 Bolts and the Cats were left stunned.
Up Next
After taking both games in Sunrise, the Lightning look to take a stranglehold on the series at Amalie Arena. Game 3 is scheduled for Sunday afternoon at 1:30pm EST. The two teams will then play Game 4 Monday night at 7pm.