The Lightning struck first at 12:06 of the first period on a Corey Perry power play goal. Florida's lone goal of the game came late in the second period, setting the stage for Colton's dramatic game-winner.
Andrei Vasilevskiy was superb again, stopping 36 of 37 shots.
The victory sends the series back to Tampa for Games 3 and 4 with the Bolts in front 2-0.
Scoring Summary
1st Period
TBL 1, FLA 0
12:06 Corey Perry (4) - Steven Stamkos, Victor Hedman - PPG
On the heels of a 3-for-6 night on the power play in the series-opener, the Bolts used their first opportunity with the man advantage to grab the lead in Game 2. Steven Stamkos controlled play at the left circle and spotted Corey Perry open in the slot with his stick on the ice. Stamkos fired the puck his way and Perry redirected it past Sergei Bobrovsky.
2nd Period
TBL 1, FLA 1
18:07 Eetu Luostarinen (1) - Gustav Forsling, Claude Giroux
Andrei Vasilevskiy appeared to be in good position to stop Eetu Luostarinen's slapshot from the left wing off the rush, but it handcuffed him slightly and snuck through his equipment before trickling over the line.
3rd Period
TBL 2, FLA 1
19:56 Ross Colton (5) - Nikita Kucherov, Ondrej Palat
With less than 10 seconds remaining in regulation, the puck was played along the wall for Nikita Kucherov behind the Panthers net. Likely trying to pin the puck against the boards and send the game to overtime, two Florida skaters converged on Kucherov, but he was able to sneak a pass through to a wide open Ross Colton in front of the net. Colton then went top shelf on Bobrovsky with four seconds left on the clock for the dramatic game-winner.
