COLTON LIFTS LIGHTNING TO 2-0 LEAD
In four games over a pressure-filled week, the Tampa Bay Lightning have gone from the brink of playoff elimination to a 2-0 lead in the Eastern Conference semifinals.
Ross Colton scored with 3.8 seconds remaining, giving the two-time defending Stanley Cup champions a 2-1 victory over the host Florida Panthers in Game 2 of their best-of-seven series on Thursday night.
The Lightning have won four straight since falling behind Toronto 3-2 in the first round and will look to take a commanding series lead over the Presidents Trophy-winning Panthers when the matchup moves across the state to Tampa for Game 3 on Sunday.
Colton said he was just trying not to get scored on in the final minute. He wound up being the hero when Nikita Kucherov retrieved a loose puck behind the Florida net and flicked a perfect no-look, backhand pass that Colton lifted over Sergei Bobrovsky's right shoulder to win it.
“I was kind of trying to sit back and let the plays come to us. But when you're on the ice with (Kucherov), you have to be ready for anything. Once I saw the puck behind the net, I
Lightning 2, Panthers 1
just went to the front of the net,” Colton said.
“He's got eyes in the back of his head, as you can see, because I didn't even know he knew I was there. He giftwrapped it for me,” Colton continued. “Luckily it just squeaked under the bar there, but unbelievable play by him.”
Florida, which had the NHL's best record during the regular season, now has to win four of the final five games in the series to advance to the
Eastern Conference final.
The Lightning, meanwhile, are playing like a team determined to become the first to win three straight Stanley Cup titles since the New York Islanders captured four in a row in the early 1980s.
“We're two games closer to where we want to be, but we're not there yet,” Lightning coach Jon Cooper said.
Florida interim head coach Andrew Brunette expects the Panthers to bounce back when the series resumes in Tampa.
“The sun will come up, and we will wake up, and we need to keep playing like we're playing” Brunette said.
Blues 4, Avalanche 1: David Perron scored two goals as visiting St. Louis evened the series at a game apiece.
Top coach nominees
Flames head coach Darryl Sutter is among the three finalists for the Jack Adams Award, presented annually to the NHL's coach of the year.
Brunette of the Panthers and Gerard Gallant of the Rangers are the other two finalists.
Sutter started his second stint behind the Flames bench on March 4, 2021, as a midseason replacement for the fired Geoff Ward. After the Flames missed the playoffs in 2020-21, Sutter oversaw the biggest season-over-season improvement by any team in the NHL. The Flames captured the Pacific Division title and had the NHL's sixth-best record (50-2111) in 2021-22.
Brunette led the Panthers (58-18-6) to the first Presidents' Trophy.
Gallant became just the second head coach in franchise history to win 50-plus games in his first season, guiding the Rangers (52-24-6) to their best record since capturing the Presidents' Trophy in 2014-15.