Panthers claim 3-0 series lead on
rival Lightning
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[April 26, 2024]
Matthew Tkachuk scored twice, including an empty-net goal to
ice the game, as the visiting Florida Panthers beat the Tampa Bay
Lightning 5-3 Thursday to take a commanding 3-0 lead in their
best-of-seven Eastern Conference playoff series.
After Nicholas Paul cut the Lightning's deficit to 4-3 with 5:10
remaining, they pulled goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy with 1:45 left
for the extra skater.
Tkachuk put the game away with an empty-netter with 32 seconds
remaining for his third playoff goal as the Atlantic Division
champions beat the Lightning for the fourth straight time in Tampa.
Florida's Brandon Montour and Steven Lorentz each had a goal and an
assist and Sam Reinhart also tallied. Goalie Sergei Bobrovsky made
26 saves for the Panthers, who are 5-1-0 against Tampa Bay this
season.
Steven Stamkos and Tyler Motte hit the net for the Lightning, while
Vasilevskiy stopped 26 shots.
In the first period, Florida's penalty-kill unit, which clicked at
82.5 percent this season to rank sixth in the league, shut down both
of its rival's man advantages.
Florida used the momentum of the two successful kills to take a 1-0
lead when its second line -- which produced Carter Verhaeghe's Game
2-winning overtime goal -- cashed in. A wide-open Tkachuk tallied
from in close after a feed from Anton Lundell at 10:39.
Anthony Cirelli scored for Tampa Bay late in the period on its third
power play, but Florida challenged that Brandon Hagel was offside on
the entry. A quick review revealed that he was, and the score
remained 1-0.
"We've had a couple of power-play goals in the series, but if you're
going to give us eight minutes (on four power plays), we've got to
do something with it," Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. "And we
didn't. In a one-goal game, that might've helped us out. ...
Ultimately, we did score a power-play goal, and we toe-picked at the
blue line and it took us offside.
"Little things in the game like that just didn't go our way. And
that's the tough part because that would've been the goal we needed
and it didn't count."
In the second, the Lightning finally took their first lead of the
series by scoring twice in a span of 2:12 -- first on a deflection
by Stamkos for his third playoff goal, then a high-slot wrister for
Motte's first. But Reinhart tied it 2-all with a shot from the right
circle at 9:58, his second goal of the series.
[to top of second column] |
Apr 25, 2024; Tampa, Florida, USA; Florida Panthers left wing
Matthew Tkachuk (19) is congratulated after scoring against the
Tampa Bay Lightning during the first period in game three of the
first round of the 2024Stanley Cup Playoffs at Amalie Arena.
Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement Neitzel-USA TODAY Sports
Following a strong Florida push in the offensive
zone, Montour fired a long shot that found its way through for his
first goal and a 3-2 lead at 16:30.
Centering the fourth line, Lorentz, who scored once in 38 games in
his first season with Florida, found a puck that bounced into the
slot and rang his first career playoff goal off the post at 9:41 of
the third for the two-goal lead.
"I mean, 2-1 versus 3-0 is a huge difference in the series, and we
knew that coming in that they weren't going to just sit back,"
Lorentz said. "They were going to feed off their crowd.
"There were stretches throughout that game where we had some good
pushes, but you could tell that they had some momentum going. Our
mistakes weren't super crucial. ... We did a good job just wearing
their (defense) down, and we're happy with our performance."
Paul brought it to 4-3 with his first goal as time was winding down,
but Verhaeghe used his second assist to find Tkachuk to put Florida
within a win of sweeping its rival.
Game 4 is scheduled for Saturday in Tampa.
--Field Level Media
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