Tampa Bay Lightning Launch Late Charge To Defeat Florida Panthers

The Tampa Bay Lightning launched a late charge last night in Sunrise to defeat the Florida Panthers in the final game of the preseason.

The Tampa Bay Lightning had one last shot to get their game in order before the regular season kicks off at the Amalie Arena on October 8^th. It may have looked like doom and gloom to start the game, but the Tampa Bay Lightning launched a late charge to defeat their in-state rivals, the Florida Panthers, 3-2 in the final encounter of the preseason.

The Tampa Bay Lightning really set the pace for the game in the opening moments of the game; however, as the first period continued on it almost started to seem as if the Lightning had found a much too deep level of comfort and started slacking off in moments when they really should have been hitting the gas.

It took until just after the halfway point in the game before either team would be able to strike first blood. Unfortunately for the Tampa Bay Lightning, the honor would be bestowed on the Florida Panthers with a goal from Panthers center Derek MacKenzie at the 12:47 mark in the first period.

As the final moments of the first period approached, Tampa Bay Lightning right wing Erik Condra would find himself with a reserved space in the penalty box as he was sent off for 2 minutes for Hooking Panthers left wing Jussi Jokinen. This opened the door for the Panthers to widen their lead on the Lightning as center Nick Bjugstad would make his way past Ben Bishop and into the back of the net to give the Panthers a 2-goal lead.

Surprisingly enough, the second period was a pretty calm one. Neither team was able to make their way to the back of the net and the only penalty to be called was on Tampa Bay Lightning captain Steven Stamkos when he was called for 2 minutes for Hooking Panthers right wing Reilly Smith.

Judging by the number of Hooking calls made on both sides of the ice in last night’s preseason encounter, many players need to watch where they are putting their sticks if they want to stay out of the penalty box this season. Of the 8 penalties called last night at the BB&T Center, 7 of them were Hooking penalties; 3 for Florida and 3 for Tampa Bay.

When the puck dropped to start the third period, it seemed as if the Panthers had found a way to ground the Lightning and were destined to bring home a win in the final preseason encounter. It didn’t help that the Tampa Bay Lightning were already playing without center Tyler Johnson, and as the period progressed they would come to lose center Alex Killorn as well.

Just when some here in the Bolts Nation began to believe the Bolts were sunk, the Tampa Bay Lightning did what they spent most of last season doing over and over again, defy the odds.

It started just after the 14 minute mark in the third period with a beautiful backhander from Ondrej Palat. Assisting on the first Lightning goal would be master of the “Beast Mode” Brian Boyle and defenseman Victor Hedman.

Speaking of Beast Mode, just under two minutes after the Palat goal, Brian Boyle would respond with a goal of his own, assisted by Erik Condra and the constantly evolving Jonathan Drouin. Wait…did we just mention Jonathan Drouin? Well…about that.

As the time continued to tick off the clock and it looked certain these two in-state rivals would be headed to a 3-on-3 overtime period, Jonathan Drouin used some of his impeccable playmaking skills to bring home one final goal for the Tampa Bay Lightning. This would give the Bolts everything they needed to hold on for the final two minutes of the game and bring home the win in their final preseason encounter.

There was one glaring downside to last night’s game that simply cannot continue to be ignored. The Tampa Bay Lightning came up 0/4 on the Power Play against the Panthers. This means the Lightning has gone 3/31 on the Power Play thus far during the preseason. If this is any indication of the way the Power Play is going to perform during the regular season, the Tampa Bay Lightning is going to be in for a long and arduous journey on their way back to another appearance in the Stanley Cup Finals.

We will give the team a little credit, as the team is missing a number of key players who are normally on the Power Play; however, they will seriously need to learn how to adapt if they want to see the same level of success they did in the 2014-15 season.

The moment we have been waiting months for has almost finally arrived. In just 4 more days, we will finally get the opportunity to pack the Amalie Arena and watch the brand new Eastern Conference Championship banner hang high in the rafters and bring the Thunder as our Tampa Bay Lightning do battle with the Philadelphia Flyers in the Lightning Home Opener.

Are you ready to Be The Thunder? We know those of us here at Bolts By The Bay are ready for another exciting season of Tampa Bay Lightning Hockey!

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