Wednesday, 4 a.m.
The moments when it got away are with them still. Carter Verehaeghe’s winning goal. The save by Sergie Bobrovskiy’s elbow. The four-minute power play where they didn’t score.
They might as well look at those moments.
It beats looking at their situation.
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The Tampa Bay Lightning dropped its second 3-2 game (this one in overtime) to the Florida Panthers Tuesday night. The Bolts fell behind, then came back, then lost in overtime. It was the Panthers’ 11th straight overtime win; the Bolts are 1-10 in their last 11 overtimes.
This one felt closer than the Bolts’ opening 3-2 loss to Florida. After a flat first period when Tampa Bay fell behind 2-0 on goals by Sam Bennett and Vladimir Tarasenko.
The Bolts tied the game on goals by Brayden Point and Steven Stamkos to force overtime. But one key save by Panthers’ goalie Sergei Bobrovsky came in the second period when he dove and blocked a shot by the Lightning’s Matt Dumba with his elbow.
“You’re looking at two of the best,” Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. “Sometimes, you have sit here and marvel at some the saves that were made.”
Former Lightning player Verhaeghe scored the winning goal three minutes into overtime.
After tw games, NHL leading scoring Nikita Kucherov has just one point and only three shots.
“This group knows how to get it done,” Cooper said. “It was so damn close to getting done.”
The teams play again Thursday night at 7 p.m. at Amalie Arena.