Ross Colton scored the biggest goal of his career, winning Game 2 of the Eastern Conference semifinals with 3.8 seconds left as the Tampa Bay Lightning edged the Florida Panthers 2-1 at FLA Live Arena.

Tampa Bay takes a 2-0 series lead and will host Game 3 on Sunday night.

Corey Perry scored the other goal for the Lightning and Andre Vasilevskiy made 35 saves.

"We're two games closer to where we want to be, but we're not there yet," said coach Jon Cooper. "I told you this last time in the last series and i'm going to tell you again: Tonight was just one game. We're here to win a series."

Eetu Luostarinen scored the lone Florida goal, and Sergei Bobrovsky made 26 saves for the Presidents' Trophy winners.

"Obviously, it's really hard," stated coach Andrew Brunette. "It's not easy. It's one of those things that hurts, obviously, but it's a roller-coaster ride that we're in and the sun will come up, wake up, and keep playing the way we're playing."

"I really liked our game. I liked most of our Game 1. Just a learning experience again against a team that doesn't give you too many openings, and we kind of gave away one there."

Story of the game

Perry gave Tampa Bay a 1-0 lead a little more than 12 minutes into the game when he tipped Steven Stamkos' pass in the slot high to Bobrovsky's glove side on the power play.

The Lightning picked up where they left off in Game 1. Perry's power-play goal was their fourth in the series after scoring three with the man advantage in the opener.

By comparison, the Panthers were 0 for 4 in the game, are 0 for 7 in the series and have yet to score in 25 power-play opportunities in the playoffs.

"I liked the early urgency," Brunette said. "You know, they're squeezing it. It's really unbelievable. But I liked the urgency. We had some looks. I thought it was better and a great opportunity to capitalize there."

Stamkos, forward Brandon Hagel and defenseman Erik Cernak each left for the locker room at some point after blocking a shot but returned to the game. Cernak had a game-high four of Tampa Bay's 24 blocked shots.

"That's just the sacrifice at this time of year," Stamkos said. "That's just the expectation of our group, and everyone's doing it no matter the situation in the game. 

"It's contagious. Guys are stepping up, whether it's an amazing penalty kill at the end, blocked shots, taking a hit to make a play. Guys are willing to do that and it's a great trait to have as a team."

Luostarinen tied the game with 1:53 left in the second period as his slap shot from the left circle trickled in between Vasilevskiy's body and blocker. 

He kept the score tied with a sprawling pad save on Anthony Duclair's one-timer from the right face-off circle with nine seconds left in the middle frame.

Bobrovsky moved across the crease and gloved Ondrej Palat's one-timer from the right face-off dot with 4:03 left in the third period.

That set the stage for Colton, who scored on a one-timer from close range off of a backhand pass by Nikita Kucherov from behind the net.

"When you're on the ice with 'Kuch', you've got to be ready for anything, and once I saw the puck behind the net, I just went to the front of the net," he 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. Luckily it just squeaked under the bar there, but unbelievable play by him."