Krenn: Three things we learned from a last-second win in Game 2

Are you not entertained?
It was a championship effort from the Tampa Bay Lightning on Thursday night in a huge 2-1 win over the Florida Panthers in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals. Let's start from the top.

After Ross Colton drew a hooking penalty on Brandon Montour at the 11:29 mark of the first period, Tampa Bay earned their first power-play opportunity of the night and capitalized to take a 1-0 lead.
The Lightning went 3-for-6 on the power play in Game 1 and picked up right where they left off with crisp passing and fluid puck movement.
Victor Hedman collected the puck at the point and sent a pass over to Steven Stamkos at the left circle. The Panthers gave Stamkos plenty of time and space and allowed him to scan the zone before skating downhill towards the left faceoff dot and ripping a pass to Corey Perry, who redirected the puck past Sergei Bobrovsky to open the scoring.
It was Perry's fourth goal of the playoffs, good for the second-most among all Tampa Bay skaters. Taking Brayden Point's spot on the first power-play unit, it was Perry who scored the Bolts' first goal in Game 1 off a beauty of a play from Nikita Kucherov with the man advantage.
Impressively, the Bolts power play hasn't missed a beat with Point out of the lineup. A former 50-goal scorer and a postseason veteran, Perry has stepped in and filled his role seamlessly for the Lightning.
After going into the first intermission with the 1-0 lead, Tampa Bay went on to showcase their playoff experience for the remainder of the game.
The Bolts were penalized on three separate occasions in the second period and killed every single one. It was a selfless effort from everyone on the ice with players fighting for every inch and sacrificing their bodies along the way, consistently laying down and blocking shots from the Panthers.
As the second period came to a close, Florida was able to find the back of the net and tie the game with a slap shot from Eetu Luostarinen that just barely squeaked through Andrei Vasilevskiy with 1:53 remaining. After Kucherov was sent to the box for tripping with 47 seconds left in the period, the Lightning were forced to start the third period on the penalty kill.
With the game tied at one on the road, Tampa Bay's mentality stayed the same. They were focused on taking care of their own end before anything else.
Players were still blocking shots left and right and after Steven Stamkos was sent off for tripping with 3:32 remaining, the Panthers had a golden opportunity to take the lead and get the series tied at one.
But just like they did in Game 1, the Bolts penalty kill came through in a big way and held down the fort to get things back to even strength with 1:32 left in the game.
Killing the penalty and getting the game to overtime felt like a big win for Tampa Bay, but the Bolts managed to do one better, win in regulation.
As the clock continued to tick towards zero, Jan Rutta collected the puck in the neutral zone and skated into the Panthers zone before leaving a drop pass for Kucherov at the point with 13 seconds to play. After a failed clearing attempt up the boards by Florida, Ondrej Palat grabbed the puck at the point and rimmed it along the boards before Kucherov grabbed it behind the Florida net.
From there, Kucherov magic.
Collecting the puck on his forehand with 4.5 seconds left directly behind the Panthers goal and, Kucherov had Gustav Forsling directly behind his right shoulder and MacKenzie Weegar closing in from the left.
In the blink of an eye, the Lightning's star winger grabbed the puck and threw a no-look, backhand pass into the slot where Colton was waiting to rip his team-leading fifth playoff goal top shelf, over the blocker of Bobrovsky.
The Florida crowd was shocked while the Bolts fans in the building were on their feet. It was another unbelievable play by Kucherov and a clutch finish from Colton, who scored the Stanley Cup-clinching goal against the Montreal Canadiens last season.
And just like that, Tampa Bay has a 2-0 series lead with Game 3 set to be played at AMALIE Arena on Sunday afternoon.
What a win it was for the Lightning, who still continue to amaze, even after winning two straight Stanley Cups. Here's three things we learned from a last-second win over the Panthers.

1. SACRIFICE EVERYTHING
The effort that the 18 Lightning skaters put out on Thursday night was one to be remembered forever.
Tampa Bay blocked 24 shots as a team with 14 different Bolts recording at least one block.
Fifteen different skaters recorded at least one hit.
Players went down with injuries, but every single one of them returned to the game to battle with their teammates.
"There was lots of guys getting stitched up tonight, but they all came back," said Bolts head coach Jon Cooper. "It was a hell of an effort."
It all started before the puck even hit the ice for the start of Game 2. During pregame warm-ups, Perry fired a shot on goal that ricocheted off the crossbar and came right back at him before hitting him in the head. He went to the dressing room, got stitched up, returned to finish warm-ups, and scored the game-opening goal for Tampa Bay.
"That's a first," Perry said with a laugh. "You play this game long enough, you're going to see a couple firsts.
"It was my own shot. Hit the crossbar, came back, and I couldn't react quick enough. It is what it is and you move on. Get a couple minutes of warm-up and away you go."
The pain wouldn't stop there for the Lightning. Mikhail Sergachev and Erik Cernak both took a puck to the face and had to go back to the locker room.
Stamkos blocked two shots on the same shift before briefly heading back to the Lightning room.
Shortly after returning, Stamkos was back on the ice and blocking more shots, forcing another return to the locker room.
As the Tampa Bay captain was set to return to the bench, Brandon Hagel blocked a heavy slap shot and had to be helped down the tunnel by two Lightning trainers.
But every player returned. Even from up in the press box, you could feel the camaraderie with the Bolts group. Everyone was fighting for each other and leaving everything on the ice.
"It's almost feels better than scoring a goal," said Hagel when asked about the team's shot-blocking efforts. "That's what winners do, sacrifice everything on the line for the guy next to you."
The team-first mentality has become contagious for this Tampa Bay team in pursuit of a third-straight Stanley Cup. When everyone is giving everything they have, the Lightning are a tough out.
"It's contagious and guys are stepping up, whether it's an amazing penalty kill at the end, blocked shots, taking a hit to make a play," Stamkos said. "Guys are willing to do that and that's a great trait to have as a team."

2. PLAY TO THE BUZZER
Just when it looked like overtime was imminent, the Lightning reminded everyone in the building that you have to play until the final horn.
It was a combination of Kucherov magic and the Colton clutch gene that sent the Panthers home with a bad taste in their mouth and gave Tampa Bay the 2-0 series lead.
"When you're on the ice with Kuch, you've got to be ready for anything," Colton said. "He's got eyes in the back of his head, as you can see, because I didn't even know that he knew I was there. He gift-wrapped it for me.
"I couldn't believe that he got it on my stick. I think when we went in the corner, I just said, 'Are you kidding me,' like 10 times because I honestly couldn't believe that he put it on my stick."
It was an incredible play by Kucherov, a player that has given Bolts fans so many incredible highlights over the years. Not only has he made so many world-class plays, but he's shown up in the biggest moments.
"It brings you back to the bubble when McDonagh made that pass to Kuch in the dying seconds and then 2015 when Tyler Johnson scored with a second left," Cooper reminisced. "I bet Kuch has probably been on the ice for all three of those. He's a special, special player."
While the pass was unbelievable, you have to give credit to Colton, who stayed composed in the highest-pressure situation and buried an absolute bullet past Bobrovsky, top shelf. Like Kucherov, Colton has continued to show up in some of the biggest moments for Tampa Bay.
"He's got that 'It' factor," said Stamkos. "You look at the second half of the year, the run that he went on, and he's just carried it over and it's been great.
"You never know. That's the beauty of the playoffs, right?
"You never know who's going to step up and be a hero."
On Thursday night it was Colton's turn to be the hero. How many times have we seen the Lightning pull off incredible, jaw-dropping wins like the one in Game 2? Cooper was asked if what this group continues to do surprises him.
"No, I'm not surprised," Cooper answered with a grin. "I'm just surprised they wait until 3.8 seconds to do it, maybe that's the part that's surprising."

3. UP TWO
When you go on the road to start a playoff series, the goal is to win one game. The Lightning got greedy and came home with two.
But the Bolts aren't satisfied. They know there's still a long way to go with a spot in the Eastern Conference Final on the horizon.
"You want to win every game and you come on the road with that mentality," Stamkos explained. "You want to steal one, for sure. That's definitely the mindset.
"But when you get that first one, we talk about, 'Let's get greedy here.'
"We did it last year. We came in and won the first two. It's so important. It's the race to four. We know how good these guys are. We went to six last year. We just have to have the same mindset.
"There's no taking a breath now. We did our job here in an environment that is tough to win in. We did that now, but we've got a couple days.
"Let's stay focused. Let's regroup. Let's get some guys a little more healthy, but let's keep the foot on the gas."
The Lightning have had incredible success in the past when they've been in this situation. Tampa Bay is 9-0 all-time in series when they take a 2-0 lead, including a 4-0 mark when starting on the road.
Overall, teams that take a 2-0 lead in a best-of-seven series in NHL history hold a series record of 339-52 for an .867 win percentage.
Additionally, defending Stanley Cup champions own an all-time series record of 68-3 when leading 2-0 in a best-of-seven series.
"We're two games closer to where we want to be, but we're not there yet," said Cooper. "I told you this in the last series. I'm going to tell you again.
"Tonight was just one game.
"We're here to win a series."
The Bolts will have two days in between games before they have a chance to take a 3-0 lead in the series on Sunday at AMALIE Arena. Puck drop is set for 1:30 p.m. ET with Game 4 scheduled for 7 p.m. ET on Monday night in Tampa.