A pair of shorthanded goals for the Florida Panthers in the second period provided enough of a cushion for a 4-2 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning on Sunday.
Tampa Bay got a goal from Brayden Point in the third period to cut a 3-1 score to 3-2, but it was as close as the host Lightning would get.
Point extended his point streak to eight games on Sunday. The Lightning are now 18-11-2.
The same teams will play in Sunrise, Florida at 7 p.m. Monday.
Scoring Summary
First period
FLA 1, TBL 0
15:49 Sam Reinhart (21) - Aaron Ekblad, Matthew Tkachuk - PP
The game’s first goal came on a Florida power play when forward Sam Reinhart deflected the puck in front of the net following a point shot by Aaron Ekblad.
TBL 1, FLA 1
19:55 Nick Paul (8) - Victor Hedman, Darren Raddysh
The Lightning tied the game with 4.6 seconds left in the first period, as Nick Paul buried a shot into the bottom left corner of the net after Victor Hedman fed him a slap pass from the left point.
Shots on goal: TBL 10, FLA 10
Second period
FLA 2, TBL 1
10:28 AJ Greer (4) - Tomas Nosek - SH
The Panthers took the lead back while on the penalty kill, as forward AJ Greer buried a puck near the Lightning net.
FLA 3, TBL 1
11:09 Eetu Luostarinen (5) - Unassisted - SH
A breakaway goal from Florida forward Eetu Luostarinen doubled the visitors’ lead.
Shots on goal: FLA 9, TBL 3
Third period
FLA 3, TBL 2
3:26 Brayden Point (22) - Jake Guentzel, Darren Raddysh
A puck dribbled through the far blueline to a rushing Point, who buried the puck on a breakaway to cut Tampa Bay’s deficit in half in the opening minutes of period three.
FLA 4, TBL 2
19:29 Reinhart (22) - Anton Lundell, Aleksander Barkov
Reinhart's second goal of the night found the empty net to seal the scoring with 30 seconds left in the game.
Total shots: FLA 26, TBL 21
