The Florida Panthers had a chance to put a stranglehold on their opening round series with the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday in Sunrise.
Instead, the Lightning came up with a big road victory in Game 3, their first win of the series, by a score of 5-1 at Amerant Bank Arena.
While the day ultimately belonged to Tampa, it didn’t take long for the Panthers to open the scoring and send their fans into a frenzy.
Sam Bennett drove toward the net after pulling the puck off the boards, but his stick was lifted just as he went to release a shot.
The puck instead slid to Matthew Tkachuk on the opposite side of the crease and all he had to do was just taaaap it in to give the Panthers a 1-0 lead at the 2:43 mark.
Later in the period, with 2:45 to go, Jake Guentzel took a pass from Nikita Kucherov and dangled through the slot before firing a shot that hit Brayden Point on its way past Sergei Bobrovsky to tie the game at one.
Moments after Florida killed off a Tampa power play late in the second period, the Bolts would take their first lead of the game.
With Brad Marchand hustling to the bench after his stick broke mid-shift, Nick Paul found space in the right circle and fired a shot that seemed to handcuff Bobrovsky. It went off his left pad and trickled into the net, giving the Lightning a 2-1 lead with 6:43 to go in the middle frame.
Guenzel scored his first of the game and second of the series just 21 seconds into the third period on a funky play that had Bobrovsky looking the wrong direction and playing without a stick.
Tampa had three goals despite being outshot 26-17 at that point of the game.
A rush goal late in the period by Luke Glendening and an empty-net goal by Anthony Cirelli shortly after would seal the win for the Lightning.
On to Game 4.
QUICK THOUGHTS
We’re still waiting for our first home win of this series.
Tkachuk is up to two goals and four points so far during the playoffs.
Sam Bennett had the primary assist on Tkachuk’s goal. Bennett has points (two goals and two assists) in all three playoff games so far.
Florida’s penalty kill went 5-for-5 on Saturday and has killed off 12 of Tampa Bay’s 13 power plays this series.
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