Facing elimination, the Panthers put together their most prolific offensive attack of the series but ran into a brick wall in the form of Andrei Vasilevskiy. Tampa Bay was hemmed in their own zone for long stretches of Game 4, only to be bailed out time and time again by Vasilevskiy's 49-save shutout.
Tampa Bay thought they'd taken the lead twice in the second period only to have goals from Alex Killorn and Nikita Kucherov successfully challenged for missed stoppages by the Florida coaching staff.
Eventually it was Pat Maroon who broke through for the game-winning goal early in the third period when he knocked a puck down into the crease that Sergei Bobrovsky accidentally kicked into his own net.
Ondrej Palat added an empty net goal in the closing seconds to seal the win.
The Lightning will now sit back and wait for the conclusion of the Rangers-Hurricanes series to determine their opponent in the Eastern Conference Final. Carolina currently leads that series 2-1 with Game 4 set for Tuesday in Manhattan.
Scoring Summary
1st Period
No Scoring
2nd Period
No Scoring
3rd Period
TBL 1, FLA 0
6:16 Pat Maroon (2) - Zach Bogosian
After two disallowed goals and over 46 minutes of scoreless hockey, Pat Maroon finally broke through to give the Lightning the lead at 6:16 of the third period. Zaxh Bogosian held the play in at the right point and lofted a shot toward the front of the net. Maroon was able to knock it out of midair and have it land in the blue paint beneath Sergei Bobrovsky. Unable to locate the puck, Bobrovsky sank back into his crease and inadvertently knocked the puck over the line.
TBL 2, FLA 0
19:37 Ondrej Palat (4) - Anthony Cirelli - ENG
Things got tense down the stretch when an Ondrej Palat clearing attempt was put cleanly out of play and called for delay of game. The Lightning gutted their way through the kill, and with the Florida net empty, found Palat alone down the ice for an uncontested empty net goal that rounded out the scoring.
