RECAP: Panthers 3, Lightning 2

SUNRISE, Fla. – The wait was worth it.

Itching to get back to the playoffs ever since last year’s Stanley Cup Final, the Florida Panthers kicked off their new run with a 3-2 win over the cross-state rival Tampa Bay Lightning in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference First Round at Amerant Bank Arena on Sunday.

“We’ve been waiting all year for this moment, to have a chance to do what we didn’t do last year,” said forward Matthew Tkachuk, whose late empty-net goal held up as the winner. “You don’t even have to ask guys. You could see on their faces how fired up they were.”

How big is it to get started off on the right foot?

Well, Florida holds an all-time series record of 5-1 when leading 1-0 in a playoff series.

“It’s always nice getting off to a good start,” forward Sam Reinhart said when asked about the value of Game 1. “We know there’s a long way to go. We’re going one day at a time. We had a job to do today, we executed, and now we rest up, recover and get ready for Game 2.”

Picking up right where he left off during his 57-goal regular season, Reinhart opened the scoring and blew the roof off the jam-packed arena when the tipped a shot from Gustav Forsling past Andrei Vasilevskiy to give the Panthers a 1-0 lead at 6:17 of the first period.

After going nearly 16 minutes without registering their first shot on goal, the Lightning broke through and evened the score late in the period when Brandon Hagel followed up on a shot from Anthony Cirelli and sent the rebound past Sergei Bobrovsky to make it 1-1 at 16:04.

If you want to know what an elite forecheck looks like, look no further than the first period.

“It’s a foundation of our game,” head coach Paul Maurice said.  

In the second period, neither team found the back of the net as open space was hard to come by for both squads. The biggest moment of the period occurred when the Panthers stood tall against Tampa Bay’s top-ranked power play, surrendering just one shot on goal over their two-minute penalty kill.

After two periods there was 77 combined hits, but just 24 combined shots on goal.

“You get into the second period and it’s a grinder,” Maurice said. “Both teams know the importance of playing well defensively. A power-play goal was the difference in the game.”

Indeed.

Starting the third period on the power play, the Panthers regained the lead when Carter Verhaeghe crashed the net and buried a perfect back-door feed from captain Aleksander Barkov to finally break the deadlock and make it 2-1 just 58 seconds into the final frame.

On the play, Verhaeghe said he knew No. 16 would thread the needle.

“We had a nice entry there, I gave the puck to Barky and went to the net,” said Verhaeghe, who’s scored a franchise-record 16 career playoff goals. “I didn’t even see the pass. I just stuck out my stick. That’s how well Barky can pass the puck. Just put it on Barky’s stick.”

Helping keep the lead intact, Bobrovsky went into brick-wall mode.

After the two-time Vezina Trophy winner went left to right to rob Steven Stamkos on a shot from the left circle, the Panthers went the other way with the puck and Tkachuk cashed in on a long empty-netter to extend the lead to 3-1 at 17:55 and essentially lock up the win.

Soon after, Bobrovsky robbed Brayden Point on a shot from the slot.

From that moment on, the sellout crowd of 19,356 stood up and never sat back down.

“It was outstanding,” Bobrovsky said. “A great playoff game, great playoff fans.”

Not giving up, the Lightning did manage to cut their deficit to one goal when they pulled Vasilevskiy on a power play to a gain a 6-on-4 advantage. But by the time Stamkos lit the lamp to cut the deficit to 3-2 with 9.3 seconds left, it was too little too late for Tampa Bay.

In the Battle of Florida, the Panthers have drawn first blood.

“Every game is a big game," Bobrovsky said. "Every shift is a big shift. It’s great to start with the win.”

THEY SAID IT

“The two guys that had the real challenge tonight were in the net. There were stretches of grind. Everyone knows the shooters are dangerous. Our first [goal] was a deflection. They’re just so hard to get in on.” – Paul Maurice

“Everybody got a hit it says there. I don’t think I’ve ever seen that. Somebody had 10. A lot of hits.” – Matthew Tkachuk

“Any time you start the series off in Game 1, everyone is trying to be physical and set the tone for the series. I think we came out hot. We got lots of hits, and they hit us back. It was just a good physical game.” – Carter Verhaeghe

CATS STATS

- Aleksander Barkov recorded the 10^th multi-point playoff game of his career.

- The Panthers led 33-22 in scoring chances, per NaturalStatTrick.com.

- Sergei Bobrovsky made five high-danger saves.

- The Panthers allowed zero scoring chances over the 4:09 their fourth line was deployed.

- Anton Lundell went 8-for-13 (61.5%) in the faceoff circle.

- Eetu Luostarinen posted a team-high six hits.

- Aaron Ekblad blocked a team-high four shots on goal.

WHAT’S NEXT?

The Panthers and Lightning will reconvene for Game 2 on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. ET.

Want to rock Amerant Bank Arena? Click here for tickets.