In the final seconds, the back-to-back Stanley Cup champions did just enough to shock the crowd of their cross-state rivals.
Tampa Bay's Ross Colton scored with 3.8 seconds left in the third period to give the Lightning a 2-1 victory Thursday night in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference second round matchup with the Florida Panthers.
The Lightning now take a 2-0 series lead into Game 3 and 4 at home, which will be played Sunday and Monday.
The game appeared headed for overtime before Colton scored from right in front of goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky off a backhand pass from Nikita Kucherov, who chased down a loose puck behind the Florida net.
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Tampa Bay's power play once again was the catalyst, producing Corey Perry's first-period goal after delivering three goals in the Lightning's 4-1 victory in Game 1.
Perry's goal was the Lightning's fourth in seven power-play chances to start the series.
Eetu Luostarinen scored the lone goal for the Panthers in the second period, while Florida went 0 for 4 on the power play in the game and is now 0 for 25 in the postseason.
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Bobrovsky had 26 saves for Florida.
