Despite an overturned goal and a disallowed goal, the Tampa Bay Lightning entered the third period of Game Five down by just a goal. Unfortunately, they couldn’t find the equalizer and the Florida Panthers scored twice with Andrei Vasilevskiy in the net and then added two more-empty netters to win 6-1 and eliminate the Lightning from the playoffs.
Victor Hedman had the lone goal that counted for the Lightning while Anthony Cirelli had a goal overturned and Mikhail Sergachev had one disallowed. Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 33 of 37 as he fell to 6-6 in elimination games. Sergei Bobrovsky made several key stops en route to a 31-save victory.
[Game Center] [Natural Stat Trick] [Lines] [Event Summary]
So, the first period. It was a close-checking period on both sides with quality chances at a premium. That behooved the team up 3-1 in the series as the Panthers basically cut the Lightning’s season down to 40 minutes after a scoreless first.
Despite the Lightning’s reluctance to get shots on net early in the period, and their ineffectiveness on not one, but two power plays, they briefly had the lead when Anthony Cirelli cut through the front of the net and whacked a loose puck past Bobrovsky. Paul Maurice called for a goaltender interference challenge and after a lengthy review, the powers that be ruled that the reason the puck was loose was partly because Anthony Duclair had interfered with the goaltender. No goal!
Look, no one really knows what goaltender interference actually is, but one thing they are fairly consistent with is contact in the crease, especially if the offensive player isn’t shoved into the goaltender. Once the overhead shot showed Duclair’s skate in the blue paint, there was a strong likelihood that the goal would be washed.
The Bolts responded pretty well, killing off a Florida power play right after the goal and then finally getting some action in the general direction of the Panthers’ net. The period ended with roughing calls against Brayden Point and Aaron Ekblad, which led to plenty of 4-on-4 action to start the second period.
In Game Four it was the Lightning that took advantage of 4-on-4 play, in Game Five it was an former member of the Lightning that found the back of the net. Coaches from pee-wee to the pros preach following your shot, and that’s what Carter Verhaeghe did. His shot hit Vasilevskiy squarely and rebounded back out. The Bolts were caught flatfooted and Ctrl-V fired home his second chance.
Carter Verhaeghe (4) [Aleksander Barkov (3), Niko Mikkola (1)] 1-0 Panthers
Florida really carried much of the action in the second period with the Lightning getting brief, but unsuccessful moments of offense. While they killed off a couple of power plays, it stalled any momentum they had built up at 5v5. Then, on a power play, things went from bad to worse as an offside call pulled the face-off back into the Lightning zone.
The Panthers won the face-off and Aaron Ekblad fired a puck at the net that Vasilevskiy had a chance to catch it, but it popped out of his mitt. Sasha Barkov wasn’t blocked out and was able to put the rebound home.
Aleksander Barkov (1) [Aaron Ekblad (2), Gustav Forsling (4)] Short-handed, 2-0 Panthers
Down two, the Lightning showed a little gumption and put together one of their best shifts of the period. Even better they found the back of the net when Victor Hedman blasted one over Bobrovsky’s shoulder. With no one in the crease, this one wasn’t going to be called back.
Victor Hedman (1) [Nikita Kucherov (7), Brandon Hagel (2)] 2-1 Panthers
What a nice moment it would have been for Mikhail Sergachev to score in his second game back from injury. And, for a moment, we got to celebrate that moment.
As you can see by the description in Kasey’s Tweet, the goal was overturned. Well, technically it was disallowed as the officials waved it off immediately due to Anthony Cirelli’s lightest of contacts with Bobrovsky in the crease. Toronto confirmed the ref’s decision after Jon Cooper challenged and the Bolts had another penalty to kill.
Which, to their credit, they did. Natural Stat Trick had the Lightning with a fairly strong period at 5v5, the only problem was that they only spent nine minutes at that strength. The six minutes of power play time for the Panthers led to 10 shots and and 10 scoring chances for the home team. That’s a lot of effort spent defending and a lot of time where they aren’t able to put goals on the board.
With 20 minutes to go in their season, and possibly for the core players that made up the Stanley Cup teams, the Lightning just couldn’t find a way to beat the Panthers defense. Florida was content to sit in the neutral zone and out-wait the Bolts. When they had the opportunity, they counter-attacked. Two goals sealed the game.
First it was Barkov crashing the net and putting it in, and then with under five minutes to go, Evan Rodrigues finished off a transition play to finish things off. Carter Verhaeghe threw a little more dirt on the grave with a takeaway and an empty-net goal. With the crowd serenading the Lightning with a sing-song chorus of Hey Hey Goodbye Niko Mikkola made it 6-1 with yet another empty net goal.
Following the handshake line, Steven Stamkos was the last Lightning player off the ice. Will we see him in a Lightning uniform again?
