TAMPA -- The Florida Panthers had a feeling that the Tampa Bay Lightning would not go down without a fight.
But they certainly did not expect what happened Saturday.
The Lightning kept their season alive by scoring three goals in the first period. Then they withstood a heavy push in the final 40 minutes, winning 6-3 at Amalie Arena in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference First Round.
Florida leads the best-of-7 series 3-1 and will again try to finish off Tampa Bay in Game 5 at home Monday (7 p.m. ET; BSSUN, BSFL, ESPN, SN, TVAS).
“We were not very good and we were a little bit slow,” Panthers coach Paul Maurice said. “We had some problems with the special teams, so that is a recipe for a tough one.”
Tampa Bay, which went 0-for-4 on the power play in its 5-3 loss in Game 3 here Thursday, scored on its second attempt with the man-advantage on Saturday.
The Lightning took a 3-0 lead into the second period by scoring on the power play, getting a short-handed goal and scoring during 4-on-4 play.
Of Tampa Bay’s six goals, only one came at 5-on-5 -- which is Florida’s strength.
“It is tough to come back from being down 3-0, but we almost did,” Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov said. “That was good for us, but we never want that to happen again. We know 5-on-5 is when we are at our best. We need to be smarter. We cannot keep taking penalties.”
The Panthers can feel good about how they answered the Lightning's big first period.
Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper said his team anticipated a significant pushback, precisely what Florida brought.
After the Panthers peppered Andrei Vasilevskiy with shots to start the second, Carter Verhaeghe finally cashed in from the doorstep at 4:17 to make it 3-1.
Tampa Bay got that goal back, but Florida buzzed throughout the second and pulled within 4-3 going into the third on goals from Sam Reinhart and Oliver Ekman-Larsson.
“To give up three in the first was tough, but we know how good that team is and know they can score,” said Verhaeghe, who has three goals for the Panthers this postseason. “We battled back, just came up short. It was nice to get a couple, to make it a game. But we gave up three in the first and our valiant effort was not enough.’’
Maurice, for one, was pleased with how his team answered.
“That’s how we’re supposed to look,’’ Maurice said. “We got moving, things went faster. We were up to speed, up to pace. You are going to have stretches over time where you don’t like how you played.’’
Again, the Lightning withstood heavy pressure from the Panthers to start the third -- and all but iced things when captain Steven Stamkos scored his second of the game at 9:34 to make it 5-3.
Nicholas Paul scored during a 5-on-3 advantage with 3:38 remaining to make it 6-3, and Florida began looking toward the future.
Although the Panthers would have loved to have swept their cross-state rival out of the playoffs, on Monday they'll get another crack at moving on to the Eastern Conference Second Round.
“Tampa Bay made the plays, so give them credit,” said Panthers goalie Sergei Bobrovsky, who made 26 saves.
“Now, we just need to get our rest, reset and refocus, come out and play our game again. It is what it is, we will have our home crowd and that will be exciting. It is playoff hockey. It will be another good fight against a really good team.”
