This is a real gut-punch for the Florida Panthers.
With the Tampa Bay Lightning leading their second round Stanley Cup playoff series against the Panthers 1-0 coming into Thursday’s game, Florida needed to do something in Game 2 before the series swung back to their rival’s home rink. For nearly 60 minutes, the Panthers played the Lightning hard, and the score sat at 1-1 with seconds remaining until a possible overtime period to decide the winner.
That was until Ross Colton was left wide open in front of the Panthers net with four seconds remaining in the third period. In a complete defensive collapse, the Panthers allowed the Lightning to capitalize on Nikita Kucherov’s backwards pass to Colton, who buried the shot top shelf for the 2-1 game winner.
Panthers give up a goal with 4 secs left in a tie game 😭 pic.twitter.com/1bJUB8nbQG
— CJ Fogler AKA Perc70 #BlackLivesMatter (@cjzero) May 20, 2022
Talk about an absolute heartbreaker right there. What should have been a 1-1 game headed to overtime to decide the winner became a 2-1 victory for the Lightning after a horrible defensive miscue. And seriously, it was a bad one.
Geez pic.twitter.com/CZuwPloByr
— Arpon Basu (@ArponBasu) May 20, 2022
Excellent defense with 5 second left in a tie game pic.twitter.com/f7hvGRyBtj
— Pete Blackburn (@PeteBlackburn) May 20, 2022
Yeah, there’s no way you can leave Colton — who scored the game-winning goal for the Lightning in last year’s Stanley Cup Final! — that wide open with seconds remaining in the third.
Instead of having a chance to win the game in overtime, the Panthers are now down 2-0 in the series with the games shifting to Tampa Bay for the next two bouts. If the Panthers ultimately lose this series, and it’s not looking great right now, come back to this moment as the one where everything changed.
