Down 1-0 to begin the second period, Tampa Bay drew level at 16:22 on Corey Perry's third goal of the postseason. The Bolts firmly took control of the game in the third, taking the lead for good early in the period after Pierre-Edouard Bellemare put home a rebound. Nikita Kucherov and Ross Colton added power play tallies in the closing stretch for insurance.
Tampa Bay dominated the special teams battle, going 3-for-6 on the man advantage and killing off all three Florida power plays.
Andrei Vasilevskiy's strong play from the conclusion of the Toronto series carried into Game 1, as he delivered a 32-save performance to backstop the victory. The 32 stops are the most he's had in a game in the 2022 postseason.
The Lightning and Panthers return to FLA Live Arena on Thursday for Game 2 of the series.
Scoring Summary
1st Period
FLA 1, TBL 0
14:01 Anthony Duclair (1) - Jonathan Huberdeau, Brandon Montour
On the rush, Jonathan Huberdeau pulled up at the right circle and threaded a pass through the middle of the ice to a trailing Anthony Duclair streaking toward the near post. Andrei Vasilevskiy got over in time but was in an awkward position and ultimately couldn't keep out Duclair's shot.
2nd Period
FLA 1, TBL 1
16:22 Corey Perry (3) - Nikita Kucherov - PPG
First Nikita Kucherov drew the penalty to send the Bolts to the power play, then he did all the work to set up Corey Perry's equalizer into a wide-open net. Kucherov picked up the puck in the defensive zone, skated the length of the ice, making a forehand move to leave Aaron Ekblad in the dust just inside the blue line, and dished to Perry on the right wing for a tap-in goal.
3rd Period
TBL 2, FLA 1
3:35 Pierre-Edouard Bellemare (2) - Corey Perry
The Lightning won an offensive zone face-off back to Perry, whose shot was fought off by Sergei Bobrovsky. The rebound fell to Pierre-Edouard Bellemare in the slot, and he quickly fired it top shelf to give Tampa Bay the lead.
TBL 3, FLA 1
15:54 Nikita Kucherov (3) - Victor Hedman, Steven Stamkos - PPG
Kucherov delivered the dagger late in the third on a power play to push the Lightning's advantage to two. From the right circle, Kucherov wristed a shot through traffic and past Bobrovsky for an insurance marker. Florida challenged the goal, arguing Anthony Cirelli had made contact with Bobrovsky in the blue paint, but the call on the ice stood.
TBL 4, FLA 1
17:44 Ross Colton (4) - Nick Paul, Mikhail Sergachev - PPG
Tampa Bay made the Panthers pay for the unsuccessful challenge with a goal on the ensuing power play. Again, it was a rebound that popped free into the slot and this time was put home by Ross Colton to round out the scoring.
