Sunrise might want to put those parade plans on hold.
TB-6
FLA-1
Andrei Vasilevskiy allowed 1 goal on 34 shots for the victory. He didn’t face a steady volume of Grade A chances like he saw in the last outing, but the ones he saw he dispensed with and made it look easy in the process. The disparity in goaltending was one of the biggest things that made the score as lopsided as it was.
First Period
NO SCORING
Second Period
4:11 TB Palat (6), (Hedman, Sergachev)(PP)
5:32 TB Joseph (5), (unassisted)
12:58 TB Johnson (2), (Smith)
19:48 TB Johnson (3), (Palat, Rutta)
Third Period
9:47 FLA Vatrano (3), (Connolly, Luostarinen)
10:58 TB Volkov (1), (Smith, Joseph)
15:45 TB Goodrow (3), (Gourde)
Tyler Johnson, Vasilevskiy, and Ondrej Palat were the game’s three stars. After looking… inept… much of the season Johnson’s contributions in this game were invaluable, especially with Stamkos on the COVID list and Cirelli out week-to-week with some kind of arm or shoulder ailment.
As much woofing as the Panthers media did after the “triumph” of their victory in the last game, this was sweet. Once again, the Panthers learned a painful lesson at the hands of big brother: one game does not make you an elite team. Indeed, with the Lightning matching and exceeding the Panthers’ work ethic, they proved to be not much of a match at all for the champs even with three (counting Kucherov) of the team’s best forwards on the shelf.
Cal Foote had 1 shot, 2 hits, and 2 blocked shots in 8:32.
Alexander Volkov had his first NHL goal and was +2 with 3 shots and 1 hit in 9:44. He had a good shift or two in the last game and he translated that into a few more good shifts in this game. It’s been painfully slow to come, but it looks like some development might be happening.
Box score and extended statistics from NHL.com.