Lightning 2 – Panthers 3 | Lightning in trouble

The Tampa Bay Lightning didn’t win two straight Stanley Cups or make it to four Finals in eight years by accident. It is an organization that knows how to identify – and retain – talent.

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Carter Verhaeghe is a rare talented player who has slipped through the fingers of this organization and he called it home in the most brutal way to his former organization.

Verhaeghe scored the game-winning goal in overtime to allow the Panthers to defeat the Lightning 3-2 on Tuesday to take a 2-0 lead in the first-round matchup between the two Florida rivals.

Just 2:58 into overtime, Verhaeghe accepted a pass from Anton Lundell before using patience to force Andrei Vasilevskiy to his stomach. Despite the limited angle, Verhaeghe scored what is already the fifth career game-winning goal in overtime in the playoffs at the age of 47.^e match. So here he is tied for 3rd^e ranked in NHL history in this regard, with only Joe Sakic and Maurice Richard ahead of him. That’s something, Mario Lemieux would say, although Richard and Sakic may have already said that too, who knows?

Verhaeghe therefore left the Lightning as a free agent in the fall of 2020, looking for a real chance in the NHL, he who was a victim of the depth in Tampa. The Ontarian has just reached 70 points for the second season in a row.

And for those with eyes only for the Canadian, Verhaeghe’s successes are also a reminder that the means to accelerate a team’s recovery are many. Because of the circumstances, we often talk about the gifts that Jeff Gorton received in New York when Artemi Panarin, Jacob Trouba and Adam Fox all wanted to join the Rangers.

The Panthers, for their part, scrounged up players left and right. Climate and low taxes are always cited, but the Panthers haven’t bought one star after another to form their core either.

Verhaeghe came to Florida with a simple two-year contract worth $1 million per season. Gustav Forsling, colossally shorthand Tuesday, was claimed on waivers. Sam Bennett – author of a goal and an assist before leaving the game with an injury – was brought in from the Flames, who believed they had toured the garden with him. Brandon Montour is another of the abandoned projects elsewhere and the Panthers only had 3 picks^e turn to yield to the Sabres.

This team is certainly carried by Aleksander Barkov and Matthew Tkachuk, but its professional recruiting department has multiplied the discoveries that helped it reach the finals last year. And to place Lightning in a dangerous situation.

Sensational goalkeepers

That said, if the 19,000 fans in attendance at the arena that changes its name every six months were entitled to an extension, it is much, much thanks to the two keepers. Vasilevskiy’s night is the most impressive on paper, due to his 34 saves. But what his Panther rival Sergei Bobrovsky lacked in quantity, he had in quality.

Each of the two Russians had their moment of glory. That of Vasilevskiy, in the second period, when he had to block a deflected shot and two rebounds from the skilled Sam Reinhart and Aleksander Barkov. Three shots, three saves, all within two seconds.

Bobrovsky, for his part, offered himself one of those places that you will see again for years in collections. If Vasilevskiy’s saves were a matter of proper positioning, Bobrovsky’s were evidence of fighting spirit and athleticism.

In teams populated by offensive stars, the two goalkeepers each remembered their importance. In 2019, Bobrovsky was one of the superstars that the Panthers seem to attract more easily than other clubs. But his colossal 7-year, $70 million contract has long been viewed as a burden. But in the playoffs, since the spring of 2023, he has a 14-6 record and a .915 efficiency.

Vasilevskiy, for his part, showed above all his value to the Lightning by his absence at the start of the calendar. Should we remember that Tampa had a perfectly ordinary 9-6-5 record when he returned to action?

On Tuesday, Vasilevskiy did enough to get his team back into a game they started 20 minutes late.

However, it was not enough, and here the Lightning find themselves behind 0-2, and are in danger of losing a third series in a row, returning to the 2022 final. It continues Thursday night, in Tampa.