RECAP: Lightning 6, Panthers 3

TAMPA – We’re heading back to Sunrise.

Missing out on a chance to sweep their cross-state rival, the Florida Panthers suffered a 6-3 loss in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference First Round at Amalie Arena on Saturday.

“We all know it’s a battle,” Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov said. “It’s best-of-seven. Now we’re up 3-1 going home. We’re in a good spot.”

Still leading 3-1 in the series, the Panthers will host the Lightning for Game 5 on Monday.

“We did what we needed to do at home,” Panthers head coach Paul Maurice said. “We won the first two games. Then we did what we needed to do on the road. We split. You’re up three and you want to win that fourth one, but they’ve got a pretty good team over there.”

Before the puck even dropped, the Lightning got a boost when defenseman Mikhail Sergachev, who’d been out since fracturing the tibia and fibula in his left leg on Feb. 7, was cleared to return to action and rejoined the team’s blueline on the second pairing.

With the Panthers on the penalty kill for the second time in the first period, Steven Stamkos buried a one-time from the bottom of the left circle to put the Lightning up 1-0 at 8:54. The main source of offense for Tampa Bay in the series, Stamkos has scored in all four games.

On the penalty kill, the Lightning doubled their lead to 2-0 soon after that when Brandon Hagel beat Sergei Bobrovsky with a snipe from the slot for a shorthanded goal at 12:09.

After a befuddling roughing penalty against Barkov led to some 4-on-4 hockey, the Lightning took advantage of the gift the officials handed them by extending their lead to 3-0 when Brayden Point tucked home a wrap-around goal at 15:07.

“We weren’t very good,” Maurice said of the start. “We were a little bit slow and then had a little problem with special teams stuff tonight. That’s a recipe for a tough one.”

Getting one back for the Panthers in the second period, Carter Verhaeghe, the franchise’s all-time leader in playoff goals, took a pass from Matthew Tkachuk from behind the net and beat Andrei Vasilevskiy with a one-timer from the doorstep to cut the deficit to 3-1 at 4:17.

But with play at 4-on-4 again, Hagel touched twine again to make it 4-1 for the Lightning at 9:40.

“They’re a veteran team,” Verhaeghe said. “They came to play today. We weren’t good enough, but we have another game to refocus and try and get it going next game.”

Sam Reinhart, netting his third goal of the playoffs, got it back to a two-goal game when he backhanded in a juicy rebound to make it 4-2 at 11:10. Less than three minutes later, Oliver Ekman-Larsson wired a shot past Vasilevskiy to make it 4-3 at 14:33.

Making a strong push, Florida led 13-4 in 5-on-5 shots on goal in the second period.

"We knew we needed to play better, and that's what we did," Barkov said. "We started playing our game."

Despite carrying that intensity into the third period, the Panthers couldn’t close the gap before Stamkos ripped a shot past a screened Bobrovsky to make it 5-3 at 9:34. On a 5-on-3 power play late in regulation, Nick Paul scored to increase Tampa Bay’s lead to 6-3 at 16:22.

With the Lightning feasting on special teams, the Panthers led 3-1 in goals at 5-on-5.

"A bit of a strange game with the 5-on-4's and 4-on-4's and 4-on-3's,” Maurice said. “We're going to have to find a way to stay out of the box and then come back and get ready for a good one."

Now all eyes are on Game 5.

“We just have to move on,” Panthers forward Eetu Luostarinen said confidently when asked about getting ready for another tough test. “Get rest, get home and get back on home ice.”

THEY SAID IT

“That’s the way the game is supposed to look for us. Got things moving a little faster, just driving. Up to pace, up to speed. You have to understand you’re going to have stretches over time where you don’t like the way you play. That’s such a phenomenal opportunity to cement who you are and what you do. I like the way were kind of able to get after it in the second period.” – Paul Maurice

“We gave them a 3-0 lead, and it’s hard to come back. They’re a good team. I think we still did a good job battling through.” – Eetu Luostarinen

“They came out and played really well. We expected it. We gave up three goals in the first, so it was tough. They’re a good team over there. They’re going to score goals. It was a battle. We battled back and came up short.” – Carter Verhaeghe

“They played really well in the first period. They scored some goals. When they score three goals in the first period, it’s tough to come back from three goals, but we almost did. That’s good by us. We don’t want that to ever happen again.” – Aleksander Barkov

CATS STATS

- Matthew Tkachuk is the third player in franchise history with at least 10 multi-point playoff games.

- Carter Verhaeghe has scored in three of four games in the series.

- The Lightning led 5-2 in power-play opportunities, upping their series advantage to 17-9.

- Kevin Stenlund went 11-for-14 (78.6%) in the faceoff circle.

- Aaron Ekblad had a team-high eight hits.

- Brandon Montour and Gustav Forsling each blocked four shots.

WHAT’S NEXT?

The Panthers will take another whack at trying to eliminate the Lightning when they return home for Game 5 at Amerant Bank Arena on Monday at 7 p.m. ET.

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