Lightning can’t get over hump, drop Game 2 to Panthers in overtime

SUNRISE — Throughout this season, the Lightning never have made anything easy for themselves.

Whether it was having to rally in the second half of the regular season to make the playoffs or forcing themselves to come from behind in their first two postseason games but not being able to get over the hump.

The Lightning haven’t played poorly, and Game 2 of their first-round series against the Panthers Tuesday at Amerant Bank Arena captured a lot of what’s great about postseason hockey: wild momentum swings, amazing goaltending, physical play and late-game heroics.

But the Lightning have yet to hold a lead in the series, and now they find themselves down two games to none.

“It’s kind of been that kind of series, but it would have been nice to get the lead at one of those points,” Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. “We had, again, just like we did in Game 1, we had opportunities to get the lead, phenomenal opportunities, and we didn’t, and now you’re playing with fire a little bit. Unfortunately, it burned us (Tuesday).”

After falling 3-2 on Carter Verhaeghe’s goal 2:58 into overtime, the Lightning quietly disappeared down the ice to plastic rats being flung onto the ice. They’ve lost their past six overtime playoff games and 10 of their last 11 overtime games.

Captain Steven Stamkos didn’t know what to make of his team’s overtime struggles in the postseason.

“If we had an answer, we wouldn’t lose in overtime,” he said, “but it’s certainly something that’s frustrating.”

Verhaeghe, the former Lightning forward who was a salary-cap casualty after the 2020 Stanley Cup win before he ever got the chance to be an NHL regular, sent his former team into a deep series hole with his fifth overtime winner in the playoffs, tied for third-most in NHL history. Only Joe Sakic (8) and Maurice “Rocket” Richard (6) have more.

On a night in which they played stout defensively while employing an 11-forward, seven-defenseman lineup and goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy nearly matched Florida’s Sergei Bobrovsky save for save, the Lightning defense had a fatal lapse in overtime. Too preoccupied following the puck, they allowed Verhaeghe to slip uncovered underneath, and Anton Lundell threaded a pass to him as he skated in front of the net.

Vasilevskiy, who had been remarkable throughout the second and third periods, made a premature poke-check. Verhaeghe pulled the puck back as Vasilevskiy went to the ice, then slid a backhand shot past his glove into the net.

But it was Bobrovsky who really stole the show with a jaw-dropping save that took away an open net from defenseman Matt Dumba that would have given the Lightning their first lead in the series with 5:58 left in the second period.

Bobrovsky was wholly beat on the play. The Lightning were pushing, and Stamkos had the puck below the right circle. Bobrovsky went to the ground expecting Stamkos to shoot, but instead he slipped a pass to a wide-open Dumba trailing the play.

Bobrovsky had his back to the puck but somehow managed to blindly lunge across the front of the net and block Dumba’s backhanded attempt with his left arm.

“Call it skill, call it luck, call it whatever you want,” Stamkos said. “I mean he’s an athletic goalie and he makes a desperation move and a hell of a save, but I thought Vasy made some great saves, too. Both goalies played outstanding (Tuesday). One (Vasilevskiy) had a little more action than the other, but both made some really quality saves.”

Tampa Bay still outshot the Panthers that period, 15-14. The Lightning had other chances, including a four-minute power play early in the third that proved fruitless. But the Bobrovsky save was the lead that got away.

“He makes a phenomenal save,” center Brayden Point said. “At that point in the game, I thought just the attitude of our team was just to keep pressing. Things like that happen. Guys make plays, guys make good saves, and you’ve just got to keep going, and that was kind of our attitude on the bench.”

Last season, the Panthers learned to win in overtime in the playoffs. On their way to the Stanley Cup final, seven of their 13 postseason victories came in overtime. It was much like how the Lightning won their 2020 Cup, going 6-2 in overtime, including a five-overtime win that opened their first-round series against Columbus and a two-overtime victory that sealed their second-round series over Boston.

Now, the Lightning head home for Thursday’s Game 3 hoping that having their season on the brink will again bring out the best in them.

“When you look at us as a group, maybe a month and a half ago we were looking up at a whole bunch of teams that were ahead of us in the playoffs and we were out,” Cooper said. “And the group dug their heels in and passed all these teams that are now out of the playoffs to get in.

“So, there’s a ton of resiliency in that group. And so you get in situations like this and you’ve done it through these last couple months. This group knows how to get it done, and (Tuesday) this group, this lineup, was so damn close to getting it done. It just didn’t.”

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