Sunrise – Carter Verhaeghe lifted a backhander just less than the crossbar 2:59 into extra time, and the Florida Panthers conquer the Tampa Bay Lightning 3-2 on Tuesday night time for a 2- direct in their NHL very first-spherical playoff collection.
It was the fifth OT winner in Verhaeghe’s vocation, coming on a engage in the place Matthew Tkachuk acquired the puck to Anton Lundell – who uncovered Verhaeghe. He waited for Tampa Bay goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy to dedicate, then place the puck in excess of him to end it.
Sam Bennett, who remaining with an injuries in the 2nd period when he appeared to get hit by teammate Brandon Montour’s slap shot, and Vladimir Tarasenko scored for Florida. Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 21 pictures, which includes some highlight-reel will save.
Braden Issue and Steven Stamkos scored for Tampa Bay, which obtained two helps from Victor Hedman. Vasilevskiy stopped 34 photographs.
Bobrovsky experienced two wild saves in the second period of time – one off his mask, the other a no-look dive that he got fundamentally with his back again to the perform to deny Lightning defenseman Matt Dumba and preserve what was then a 2-2 tie.
And it stayed that way, all the way right up until the unexpected end.
It was 2- Florida right after a single, with Bennett scoring at 6:16 – the Lightning unsuccessfully challenged that objective for goaltender interference – and Tarasenko connecting nearly 9 minutes afterwards. The Panthers controlled the opening 15 minutes, just like they did in Game 1, outshooting the Lightning 12-1 and the two-goal guide held up likely into the 2nd time period.
That’s when the Lightning – who boast a roster loaded with Stanley Cup hoisters – showed their postseason poise.
Position scored 48 seconds into the next to slash the direct in fifty percent. Stamkos – who was an inch absent from a electricity-perform tally in the opening period of time – bought 1 at 5:48 of the second to tie the sport. It was his patented just one-timer, just like the one he took a time period earlier that received previous Bobrovsky’s glove but strike the goalpost with this kind of power that the rebound skipped all the way out of the zone.
So, Florida experienced misplaced two issues – the lead, and Bennett. He left early in the second period, seeming to hold his wrist, and went straight down the tunnel towards the Panthers’ locker room as soon as he obtained off the ice. He did not return, with the Panthers contacting it an upper-physique harm.
Both groups frittered absent probabilities in the 3rd.
The Lightning – who experienced the best electricity engage in in the NHL through the common year at 28.6% – experienced a 4-moment male edge early in the 3rd immediately after Florida’s Eetu Luostarinen was whistled for substantial-sticking Erik Cernak.
Florida killed that off, then had a prospect for a power participate in of its very own when Tampa Bay’s Nicholas Paul interfered with Sam Reinhart. The power perform lasted four seconds, above ahead of it commenced simply because Verhaeghe was referred to as for slashing Tampa Bay’s Luke Glendening.
UP Up coming
Video game 3 is Thursday in Tampa.
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