Tampa Bay Lightning dominate Florida Panthers in second straight meeting 5-1 -NHL Match Update
Florida may be dominating Tampa Bay when it comes to talking about rankings in the Eastern Conference, but the Lightning showed that they are still on top when it comes to their state rivalry by striking the Panthers for the second straight time, 5-1, in
their back-to-back meeting on Saturday, November 26, 2011, at the St. Pete Times Forum in Tampa, Florida, United States.
"We got outplayed and the score shows how the game played out," Florida coach Kevin Dineen said. "Goaltending wasn't an issue, it was overall defensive play and a real lack of will. We need to get back to the way we've been successful, and we didn't do that
for the last four or five periods."
Mathieu Garon faced 25 shots for the Tampa Bay Lightning and managed to block 24 for a near shutout, while his counterpart in the Florida net faced 34 and fell short on five attempts.
The previous meeting was on the Panthers home-ice, but as Florida nearly held on to their lead, the Lightning forced an unexpected overtime and capitalised on the home team in OT to take the first match.
Martin St. Louis’ sixth goal of the 2011-2012 National Hockey League (NHL) regular season kicked off the scoring in the opening two minutes of the first period, while the Lightning maintained their lead by killing off two consecutive penalties in the following
minutes.
Tom Pyatt, Steven Stamkos and Ryan Malone scored three straight to widen the Tampa Bay gap, which ultimately became the reason for the Lightning to conquer the game by taking it out of reach.
Shawn Matthias added Florida’s first and final goal of the night with less than three minutes to play, which was of no value looking at the time and score ratio but it did not stop Stamkos from scoring as he potted his second of the night in the final minute
on a breakaway opportunity unassisted.
"Tonight we really pushed the pace," said Stamkos. "We're utilizing our speed and we're confident right now. When you get confidence good things happen and you get rewarded."
Florida will be looking to snap their two-game losing streak when they face off against the Carolina Hurricanes on Tuesday while Tampa Bay faces the Minnesota Wild on Monday.
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