Lightning beat Panthers in opener
TAMPA, Fla. -- The Tampa Bay Lightning lost a two-goal lead in the second period, then pulled away with a pair in the third, opening the season with a 5-3 win over the Florida Panthers on Friday night at Amalie Arena.
The Lightning got third-period goals from Vladislav Namestnikov and Nikita Kucherov, each beating Roberto Luongo in the first seven minutes of the period. The Panthers had tied the game with their own two-goal flurry late in the second.
Florida pulled within a goal with 5:30 left when Jonathan Huberdeau redirected an Evgenii Dadonov shot in front of the net to make it a 4-3 game. Florida had a power play with 3:11 left, but couldn't convert. Tampa Bay added an empty-net goal from Ondrej Palat -- his second goal of the game -- with 13 seconds left.
The two teams continue their cross-state rivalry Saturday with a rematch in Sunrise, Fla., as part of a home-and-home series on the opening weekend.
Tampa Bay goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy, making his first Opening Night start, had 33 saves, including three on the final power play, in earning the win.
The Lightning took the lead back in the opening minute of the third with a power-play goal by Namestnikov. Alex Killorn passed wide to Steven Stamkos, who fired a pass past Luongo that Namestnikov fired into the empty net from the far side.
Tampa Bay cushioned its lead when Kucherov took a loose puck in front of the net and fired it in for his first goal with 13:22 left in the third.
Down 2-0 late in the second, Florida took advantage of a Kucherov turnover in his own zone to pull within a goal. Defenseman Alex Petrovic came in wide, waited to pass sliding Lightning defenseman Dan Girardi to feed a pass to Connor Brickley in front of the net for his first goal with 7:39 left in the period.
Florida tied the game with 2:13 left in the second, as Mark Pysyk scored on a rebound to beat Vasilevskiy.
The Lightning took a 1-0 lead as left winger Palat fired a shot through the legs of Luongo with 13:27 left in the first. Tampa Bay struck again, just 25 seconds into the second period, as Brayden Point scored for a 2-0 lead.
NOTES: The Lightning, carrying eight defensemen, made Slater Koekkoek and Jake Dotchin their scratches Friday, allowing 19-year-old Mikhail Sergachev to make his NHL debut. ... RW J.T. Brown was also a healthy scratch ... The Panthers' scratches were RW Owen Tippett, C Denis Malgin and D MacKenzie Weegar.