TAMPA, Fla. -- Steven Stamkos didn't have any answers for a disheartening Tampa Bay Lightning loss Saturday night.

He did have two words, however: "Bad luck."

The Lightning center and captain repeated those two words three times in his postgame interview, but one team's bad luck turned out to be the Panthers' good fortune as Florida pulled out a 5-4 shootout victory at Amalie Arena.

Panthers center Brandon Pirri, who scored on a penalty shot in regulation, delivered again in the shootout, the only player to do so.

"I played (Bishop) a lot in the minors and it is really more of a thinking match,'' Pirri said. "I was just fortunate to come out on top there."

The Panthers, back to .500 at 7-7-3 after dropping six of their previous seven games (1-4-2), got a goal from defenseman Aaron Ekblad with 38 seconds left in regulation to force the extra time, and Panthers goaltender Roberto Luongo came up big in overtime.

In the 3-on-3 overtime, Stamkos had a chance to win it with a penalty shot, but Luongo stopped him. Luongo then stopped defenseman Victor Hedman, center Brian Boyle and center Valtteri Filppula in the shootout.

"It was definitely one of the craziest games I've ever played,'' said Luongo, who made 24 saves. "It was a good character win for the boys. We stuck with it and got a big goal at the end to tie it. (Then Pirri scored) and we were able to hold it."

The Panthers needed a dramatic comeback to even get that far.

With 43 seconds remaining, Tampa Bay right winger Ryan Callahan tried to clear the puck and sent it into the Lightning bench for a delay-of-game penalty.

With Luongo pulled, the Panthers had a 6-on-4 advantage and won the ensuing faceoff in Lightning territory, the puck sliding right to Ekblad, who one-timed a wrist shot past goalie Ben Bishop to stun Tampa Bay.

"Bishop is a good goalie, he made some great saves,'' Florida coach Gerard Gallant said. "For us to score on the power play with a 6-on-4 that late in the game, that was huge."

"Bad luck, the puck just slid over the glass,'' said Stamkos about the penalty. "We had the game, we played well, we had it locked down and had the lead. It's just the way this season is going for us. We'll take the point."

The Panthers scored first on left wing Jussi Jokinen's goal in the first period, and Pirri gave the Panthers the 3-2 lead at 4:47 on the second period when he converted a penalty shot, finding space between Bishop's legs for his third goal of the season.

The Lightning (8-8-3) struck three minutes after Pirri's goal, as Hedman wound up from the point and banged a shot off Luongo's pads to defenseman Anton Stralman, who punched in the rebound for his first goal of the season to tie game heading into the final period.

Lightning center Vladislav Namestnikov, who hadn't scored a goal in 10 games but made coach Jon Cooper look like a genius for promoting him to the top line this week, netted his second of the game at the 9:56 mark of the third period.

Then it slipped away.

"This is unreal,'' said Cooper, whose team has struggled to score goals this season. "I felt bad for the guys ... we're playing well and coming up empty."

NOTES: Panthers C Aleksander Barkov returned to practice Friday and was on the ice for the morning skate Saturday. But eventually the decision was made to keep Barkov out for the 10th straight game. Barkov has been out since injuring a hand blocking a shot Oct. 22. ... Panthers D Steven Kampfer and LW Shawn Thornton were scratches. ... Tampa Bay Lightning D Matt Taormina was a scratch, after being called up from Syracuse of the American Hockey League Friday when D Nikita Nesterov was sent down. ... Panthers RW Jaromir Jagr broke a tie with Nicklas Lidstrom, playing in his 1,565th game for 10th all time. Ray Bourque, with 1,612, is No. 9. ... The Lightning and Panthers meet in Sunrise, Fla., on Monday.