Marchessault's OT goal lifts Panthers over Lightning
SUNRISE, Fla. -- Jonathan Marchessault scored a power-play overtime goal and backup goalie James Reimer produced 31 saves to lead the Florida Panthers past the Tampa Bay Lightning 2-1 on Thursday night at the BB&T Center.
After an interference penalty on Tampa Bay's Tyler Johnson, the Panthers played 4-on-3 and got the goal with 3:11 left in the extra session.
The Panthers (21-19-10), who broke a four-game losing streak, also received a shorthanded goal by Jussi Jokinen. It was just his second shorthanded goal in five seasons.
It was a rare overtime win for interim coach Tom Rowe. The Panthers were 6-1 in OT before Gerard Gallant was fired but are only 3-9 in those situations under Rowe.
For Tampa Bay (22-22-6), Nikita Kucherov scored his 19th goal of the season and his seventh on a power play. Goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy was solid in defeat with 35 saves.
Tampa Bay also made a trade minutes before the start of the game, sending defenseman Nikita Nesterov to the Montreal Canadiens for defenseman Jonathan Racine and a 2017 sixth-round draft pick.
Meanwhile, the Panthers got two of their better players back from injury. Center Nick Bjugstad, who also had a broken hand at the start of the season, hadn't played since Jan. 6 due to a groin injury. Defenseman Alex Petrovic (broken ankle) played for the first time since Dec. 15.
Petrovic, in a way, affected the first two goals of the game -- even though he wasn't on the ice.
After a high-sticking penalty sent Petrovic to the penalty box, the Panthers needed just 10 seconds to score on a shorthanded goal. Keith Yandle got the puck to Vincent Trocheck, whose cross-ice pass to Jokinen resulted in his fifth goal of the season. Vasilevskiy dove to his right in an effort to get back, but it was too late.
The Lightning countered with Kucherov's goal, which came with just 12 seconds remaining on the Petrovic penalty. Alex Killorn, operating just a few feet from Reimer, passed out to Jonathan Drouin, whose cross-ice pass found Kucherov, completing the tic-tac-toe sequence.
NOTES: Tampa Bay D Jason Garrison (illness) returned after missing two games. ... Panthers top-line C Aleksander Barkov, out since Dec. 28 with an apparent back injury, is skating and could return in a couple of weeks. ... The Panthers and Lightning finished 1-2 in the Atlantic Division last season but have slumped since. ... The Panthers just returned from a 0-2-2 trip, and three of those losses were by one goal. ... The Lightning entered Thursday on a 3-7-1 skid. ... Florida scratched D Dylan McIlrath, RW Paul Thompson and D Jakub Kindl. ... Tampa Bay scratched D Luke Witkowski, LW Michael Bournival and D Nikita Nesterov. ... This was the first of a four-game Panthers homestand that continues Tuesday against the Ottawa Senators. ... The Lightning return home to face the Boston Bruins on Tuesday.