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The Panthers await the winner of the Boston
Bruins-Toronto Maple Leafs series. The Bruins lead the series
3-1 with Game 5 set for Tuesday night in Boston.
Florida's Sergei Bobrovsky, who earlier in the day was named one
of three finalists for the Vezina Trophy as the NHL's best
goalie, made 31 saves.
Evan Rodrigues and Niko Mikkola, who added an assist, also
scored for the Panthers. Matthew Tkachuk chipped in with two
assists.
"This was a big series for us," Tkachuk said. "We always knew
that for us to win it all, we had to go through Tampa at some
point. It's an amazing feeling to close it out at home."
Victor Hedman scored for the Lightning, who got 33 saves from
goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy.
Tampa Bay appeared to open the scoring with seven minutes left
in the first period as Anthony Cirelli knocked in a rebound. But
Florida coach Paul Maurice challenged the call, and the goal was
disallowed due to goalie interference by former Panthers forward
Anthony Duclair.
The teams were playing four-on-four when the first legitimate
goal occurred. Verhaeghe followed his own shot and scored with
just 45 seconds elapsed in the second period.
Verhaeghe's first shot, from the high slot off a pass from
Barkov, produced a long rebound. Verhaeghe then beat three
Lightning players to the puck.
With 11:22 gone in the second, Panthers forward Anton Lundell
was penalized for a high-sticking penalty on Steven Stamkos.
But with 44 seconds left on Tampa Bay's ensuing power play,
Florida scored shorthanded as Vasilevskiy couldn't grab Aaron
Ekblad's shot from the point.
The puck went off Vasilevskiy's glove and Barkov pounced for a
rebound goal that made it 2-0.
Tampa Bay, though, scored 15 seconds after its power play
elapsed as the Lightning denied a Panthers clearing attempt.
Instead, Hedman's high blast went in over Bobrovsky's glove. A
few seconds earlier, Bobrovsky had spun completely around to
stop a Stamkos shot.
With 2:12 left in the second, the Lightning appeared to tie the
score on Mikhail Sergachev's shot. But the referees disallowed
the goal due to goalie interference on Cirelli.
Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper challenged the call and lost.
"Net-front battles aren't allowed anymore?" Cooper said. "That's
part of everybody's game. ... I think we're letting the goalies
off the hook."
Florida poured it on in the third with goals from Barkov
(rebound with 9:54 left); Rodrigues (one-timer off the rush,
5:44); Verhaeghe (empty-netter, 3:57); and Mikkola
(empty-netter, 1:20).
--Field Level Media
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