The Lightning put the Panthers in a deep hole in their Eastern Conference playoff series, a hole Florida dug itself.
Ross Colton scored with 3.8 seconds left to give Tampa Bay a 2-1 victory and a sweep of the first two games on the Panthers’ home ice.
The Lightning capitalized on a defensive blunder when Florida’s MacKenzie Weegar chased Nikita Kucherov behind the net despite a teammate was already covering him.
Kucherov passed to the open Colton, who blasted the puck past goalie Sergei Bobrovsky.
Boom. Turn out the lights.
The series resumes Sunday in Tampa at 1:30 p.m.
– Joe Henderson, Extensive Enterprises Media