Bolts’ Hedman: ‘We have to turn the page’ after Game 4 loss
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The Tampa Bay Lightning were less than four minutes away from evening their first-round series against the Florida Panthers at two games apiece when they conceded two late goals in 11 seconds and let Game 4 slip away Monday night.
Leading 2-1 late in the third period, Aaron Ekblad tied the game with a wrist shot and Seth Jones scored only 11 seconds later to give the Panthers a 3-2 advantage, scoring the fastest two goals by defencemen on the same team in NHL playoff history. Florida would go on to win 4-2 after an empty-netter from Carter Verhaeghe sealed things and gave them a 3-1 series lead.
Lightning captain Victor Hedman told reporters after the game his team needs to quickly move on and focus on extending their season in Game 5.
“We have to turn the page, that’s the bottom line," Hedman said via NHL.com. “The next game is in two nights. The playoffs is about ups and downs, and we felt we had the game under control even if it was just one goal. We have been on the other side with these. We just have to turn the page and be ready for the next one."
Head coach Jon Cooper pointed out that despite the two-game series deficit, the Bolts have played the defending Stanley Cup champion Lightning punch-for-punch for the majority of the series.
“Is this series close? It’s really close,” Cooper said. “That’s what makes this Battle of Florida so much fun, because it is two extremely competitive teams that play a great brand of hockey. That’s why you get these tight games.”
After a scoreless first period, Anton Lundell got the first goal of the game midway through the second. But the Lightning answered quick with goals from Mitchell Chaffee and Erik Cernak 11 seconds apart, which was mirrored by the Panthers late in the third period.
“Both teams had two spurts of 11 seconds that were really rewarding,” Cooper said. “Theirs came at the end.
“For 115 minutes, we passed every test possible. We just had a tough 11 seconds there at the end of the game. It’s unfortunate. We played well enough to win both games (on the road) and came up a little short."
Game 5 will go Wednesday evening in Tampa with the Bolts looking to send things back to Sunrise for Game 6.