If only the Panthers could play all their games this season against the Tampa Bay Lightning, they might record the most successful season in franchise history. Sadly other teams do need to be thrown into the mix in the interest of fairness, oh well. Last night the Panthers won their 2nd straight game over Tampa Bay in a little more thrilling fashion than last week’s 4-0 win in Sunrise, FL. Last night’s game in Tampa required a shootout, but still saw the Panthers emerge victorious over the Lightning, 4-3.

As with last week’s meeting, the Panthers seemingly could do no wrong through the first half of the game. Bryan McCabe got Florida out to a 1-0 lead at 7:50 in the 1st period, and David Booth scored his 8th of the season on the power play with just 17 seconds left in the 1st to put Florida up 2-0. McCabe would find the net again 7:48 into the 2nd period on the power play to put Florida up 3-0, but then Tampa would come storming back.

The Lighting scored at 14:42 of the 2nd period to give themselves a fighting chance at 3-1 to start the 3rd period. Tampa would score at 3:44 and 17:09 to erase Florida’s lead and send the game to overtime tied 3-3. Neither team could break the deadlock in OT as they managed a combined 5 shots on goal, so the game went to the decisive shootout. Tampa went first and goalie Tomas Vokoun would save their effort. Stephen Weiss went first for the Panthers, but missed the net. Tampa’s next effort missed the net as well, but Nathan Horton would not miss on Florida’s second chance. Vokoun would save Tampa’s last effort and give the Panthers the victory.

This week’s game against Tampa was not as sparkling an effort from the Panthers as last week. Tampa had a huge edge in shots on goal, 52-36, but the Panthers were more effective on special teams. Florida was 2-5 on the power play (a source of great concern most of the season) and 2-2 on the penalty kill.

Florida appears to have found a groove in the past week as they are 2-1 in their 3 games, and though they did lose to the toughest competition they faced in Detroit, they have been putting in tremendous effort in all 3 games. This trend will need to continue as Florida finishes this week with games @ New Jersey and @ Boston. For now though, there is no better way to start a road trip than with a win.