Lightning playoff extra: A night of no breaks, no power-play goals
3 Panthers stars
The Panthers captain gave his team a brief two-goal lead with Florida’s first shorthanded goal of the series in the second period, then helped seal the Lightning’s fate with his second goal with 8:54 remaining. He also assisted on Carter Verhaeghe’s goal to open the night’s scoring, and won 11 of 14 faceoffs.
Carter Verhaeghe
Call him Clutch Verhaeghe, at least when it comes to series-clinching games. The onetime Lightning forward scored his team’s first and fifth goals (the latter an empty-netter) and assisted on another, giving him a franchise-best nine points in series-clinching contests.
Granted, he benefited mightily from two disallowed goals, but Bobrovsky still officially saved 31 of 32 shots, including all 13 Lightning attempts in the third, which began with Florida leading only by one.
3 Lightning stars
On a night mostly devoid of Lightning stars, we’re giving Sergachev one for sheer grit. Two nights after his heralded return from a broken leg (which sidelined him more than 11 weeks), Sergachev logged 18 minutes, 23 seconds of ice time, and even found the back of the net on a wrist shot (though the goal was waived off).
The veteran defenseman scored the night’s only goal that was allowed to stand, a blistering shot from the point that cut his team’s deficit to one goal in the second period. Hedman’s six shots and three blocked shots led the team Monday night.
If this was his last game in a Lightning sweater, the captain didn’t go down without a fight. Stamkos’ nine hits led his team.
Power outage
After combining for seven power-play goals in the series’ first four games, the Lightning and Panthers went a combined 0-for-7 Monday night. Tampa Bay finished 4 of 20 (20%) on the power play in the series after going a league-best 71 of 248 (28.6%) in the regular season.
“History is going to sit here and say this series was 4-1, but we left some big moments where I thought we could’ve capitalized on some situations,” Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. “We didn’t and they did, and that was the difference in the series.
“Game 2, we have the opportunity now in the start of the second period to have that four-minute power play; we don’t do anything with it. ... We still scored four power-play goals in this series, it was just the timing of them helped us get one win. And when we needed them, we couldn’t (convert), and they get the timely kills and the one timely power-play goal (in Game 1).”
By the numbers
2: Successful challenges (in as many attempts) of would-be Lightning goals in this series by Panthers coach Paul Maurice. Both challenges were for goaltender interference.
44: Regular season goals for Nikita Kucherov
0: Playoff goals for Nikita Kucherov
8-0: Florida’s record when scoring first in potential series-clinching games
4117:02: Hedman’s career playoff ice time, which now ranks fifth in NHL history
They said it
“Video review determined Tampa Bay’s Anthony Duclair impaired Sergei Bobrovsky’s ability to play his position in the crease prior to Anthony Cirelli’s goal. The decision was made in accordance with Rule 69.1 which states, in part, ‘Goals should be disallowed only if: (1) an attacking player, either by his positioning or by contact, impairs the goalkeeper’s ability to move freely within his crease or defend his goal.’” — the NHL’s official explanation of Tampa Bay’s first disallowed goal
“Video review confirmed Tampa Bay’s Anthony Cirelli made incidental contact with goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky, which impaired his ability to play his position prior to the goal. The decision was made in accordance with Rule 69.1 which states, in part, ‘Goals should be disallowed only if: (1) an attacking player, either by his positioning or by contact, impairs the goalkeeper’s ability to move freely within his crease or defend his goal.’” — the NHL’s official explanation of Tampa Bay’s second disallowed goal (by Sergachev)
“Maybe this wasn’t the teams we’ve had in the past, but that (sentiment) didn’t creep into this room. We played hard, we showed it in this series. It was a tight series, but we just didn’t have that extra whatever-you-want-to-call-it come playoff time to get some of those wins in the close games, and that’s tough.” — Stamkos, held without a goal for the first time in this series
“He was unbelievable right from Game 1, dialed in on and off the ice. He just knows what to say, and he knows how to get the boys going. He’s obviously led this team to some championships in the past, but just seeing it for the first time was unbelievable, and I’m glad I got to play alongside him.” — Lightning late-season acquisition Anthony Duclair, on Stamkos
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