Lightning Score Early In Every Period As They Pound Panthers 7-3

@jayRecher 


All the Lightning needed was a little home cooking. 

Seven different players scored and Louie Domingue made 40 saves as the Lightning defeated the visiting Florida Panthers 7-3 on Wednesday night at Amalie Arena. 

Following a very emotional tribute and ceremonial puck drop with new Hall of Famer Martin St. Louis, the Lightning got on the board with a goal that certainly would have made Marty proud. 

Tampa Bay rookie Mathieu Joseph stole the puck from Panthers defender Alex Petrovic, went around him, and beat goalie Roberto Luongo five-hole on his backhand to give the Bolts a 1-0 lead just 59 seconds into the game. 

That lead didn't last long, however, as long-time Lightning killer Troy Brouwer scored at 2:19 to even things up. 

That was Brouwer's 12th career goal against the Bolts in 28 career games. 

The score remained that way until Panthers defenseman MacKenzie Weegar took a tripping penalty and the Lightning power play went to work....quickly. 

Just 22 seconds into the man advantage, Nikita Kucherov took a pass from Victor Hedman and fired a one-timer past Luongo to give Tampa Bay the lead once again. 

As the second period began, you could feel the Lightning getting closer and closer to extending their lead, and at 2:39 they did just that. 

On a beautiful give-and-go play, Steven Stamkos found Yanni Gourde all alone at the side of the net and he slammed one home to give Tampa Bay the 3-1 advantage. 

Adam Erne found a rebound of a Ryan McDonagh shot and backhanded one past Luongo just over two minutes later to make it 4-1 and the Bolts were off to the races. 

Stamkos, McDonagh and Dan Girardi all scored in the 3rd period to put an exclamation point on the victory. 

Florida's Mike Hoffman scored a power play goal late in the 3rd period to extent his point streak to 17 games. 

Luongo made 22 saves on 28 shots and was pulled after the McDonagh goal. James Reimer came on in relief and stopped 4 of 5 shots. 



SCORING SUMMARY 


1st Period 

1. Tampa Bay - Joseph - (Unassisted) - 0:59 

2. Florida - Brouwer - (Haley, Sceviour) - 2:19 

3. Tampa Bay - PPG - Kucherov - (Hedman, Miller) - 9:22 


2nd Period 

1. Tampa Bay - Gourde - (Stamkos, Miller) - 2;37

2. Tampa Bay - Erne - (Kucherov, McDonagh) - 4:45

3. Florida - PPG - Barkov - (Huberdeau, Yandle) - 18:25


3rd Period

1. Tampa Bay - Stamkos - (Kucherov, McDonagh) - 1:30

2. Tampa Bay - McDonagh - (Stamkos, Miller) - 3:21

3. Tampa Bay - Girardi - (Hedman, Stamkos) - 14:25

4. Florida - PPG - Hoffman - (Yandle, Huberdeau) - 16:25



PENALTY SUMMARY 


1st Period

1. Florida - Weegar - (Tripping) - 9:00

2. Florida - Weegar - (Delay of Game) - 19:38 


2nd Period

1. Tampa Bay - Callahan - (Tripping) - 4:58

2. Tampa Bay - Erne - (Holding) - 18:19

3. Florida - Hoffman - (Tripping) - 19:13


3rd Period

1. Florida - Haley - (Slashing) - 4:14

2. Tampa Bay - Stamkos - (Tripping) - 15:28

3. Tampa Bay - Erne - (Slashing) - 17:18



What's Next For The Bolts : The Lightning are back in action on Friday night as they welcome the Chicago Blackhawks to Amalie Arena. Puck drop is slated for 7:30pm with the pregame show kicking things off at 6:30pm on NewsRadio 970WFLA. 


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