Tampa Bay Lightning

Rapid Reactions: Lightning Record Comeback Victory Against Panthers
March 12, 2017, 8:54 AM ET [5 Comments]
John Gove
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The Tampa Bay Lightning rallied from a two-goal deficit to defeat the Florida Panthers 3-2 on Saturday night. The Bolts finish their four-game regular season series against their in-state rivals with a 2-1-1 record.

Tampa Bay has won two straight contests and three of their last four. In addition, the Lightning are 10-2-3 over their last 15 games.

Resiliency on Display

In an extremely important contest on Saturday night, the Lightning suffered misfortune early by suffering a two-goal deficit heading into the game's first intermission. Both Jaromir Jagr and Mark Pysyk lit the lamp, putting the Bolts in a hole early.

Luckily, Tampa did not let the first period get to their head as they were able to come back with three consecutive goals to secure a victory. This is something that just was not happening for this Lightning team earlier on in the season. It is apparent how hungry this team is now as they find themselves in the thick of a race for the final playoff position in the Eastern Conference.

Kucherov Continues His Brilliance

Nikita Kucherov opened up the scoring last night with a power play goal 3:43 into the second period. Once again, he connected on a one-timer from the right circle, giving him ten goals over the last nine games.

Kucherov now has 31 goals this season, setting a new career high, and 13 power play goals, which has him tied for the most in the league. In addition, he now has 99 career goals, giving sole possession of eighth place on the all-time goals list for the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Simply put, Kucherov has been on fire for the Bolts lately and is a key reason they find themselves in the position they are in currently.

Another First

Yanni Gourde cashed in his first NHL goal in the second period of Saturday night's game. His shorthanded tally was not only impressive, it was a rare occurrence. Last night, Gourde joined Alex Killorn and J.T. Brown as the only Lightning players to score shorthanded goals this season.




Still in the Thick of It

After Saturday night's comeback victory against the Panthers, the Lightning still find themselves very much in the race for the second wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference. They are only three points behind the Toronto Maple Leafs with 15 games left to play. The Islanders are currently two points ahead of the Lightning, as they look to complete their turn-around this season.

On tap

The Lightning enter a crucial back-to-back road trip starting Monday night in New York against the Rangers. They will then head to Ottawa to take on the Senators Tuesday night.