Staal has goal, assist, Panthers spoil Jeannot's debut with Lightning

TAMPA -- Eric Staal and Eetu Luostarinen each had a goal and an assist for the Florida Panthers in a 4-1 win against the Tampa Bay Lightning at Amalie Arena on Tuesday.

Anton Lundell scored, and Sergei Bobrovsky made 28 saves for the Panthers (30-26-6), who have won seven of their past 11 games (7-4-0).
"Once again, 'Bob' was really good," Lundell said. "Overall, I think we played really [well] as a team. We helped him out very well."
Brayden Point scored in his fifth straight game for the Lightning (37-19-4), who have lost five of seven and had their franchise record 16-game home point streak end (14-0-2). Andrei Vasilevskiy made 37 saves.
"We're getting outplayed," Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper said. "Every game we're getting outplayed. Whether it's small pockets of the game or what have you...we've got to look ourselves in the mirror and say, 'Why is that?' Our formula hasn't changed, our game plan hasn't changed. So, it's probably something inside us and we've got to figure that out."

Tanner Jeannot, who was traded to Tampa Bay by the Nashville Predators on Sunday, was held without a point in his Lightning debut. He has five points and nine assists in 56 games this season after getting 24 goals and 17 assists over 81 games in 2021-2022.
Jeannot was traded from Nashville for defenseman Cal Foote, a conditional first-round pick in the 2025 NHL Draft, a second-round pick in the 2024 NHL Draft, and a third-, fourth- and fifth-round pick in the 2023 NHL Draft.
"Hard worker, he's great for our line," Lightning forward Nicholas Paul said of Jeannot. "We just need more forecheck pressure. That's our line -- getting pucks in, forechecks, getting pucks on net."
Staal gave Florida 1-0 lead at 6:19 of the first period with a redirection from the high slot off a shot from Josh Mahura.
Lundell made it 2-0 at 15:56 when he beat Tampa Bay defenseman Zach Bogosian for the puck and scored with a wrist shot from close range.
Luostarinen extended it to 3-0 at 17:37 with a one-timer from the slot.
"Two unassisted goals that we had the puck," Lightning captain Steven Stamkos said. "For whatever reason tonight, we didn't make the plays and we didn't execute. We just aren't playing well.
"It's on us as players to demand more from ourselves. That's disappointing coming off of the game that we had the other night."

Point cut it to 3-1 at 11:39 with a power-play goal when he jammed in a backdoor pass from Stamkos.
Anthony Duclair scored into an empty net, his first goal of the season, with five seconds remaining in the third period for the 4-1 final.
"We were pretty consistent for the most part, through two [periods] for sure," Panthers coach Paul Maurice said. "We got into the penalty box a little bit, and that tilted it a little bit in the third. But at the end of the day, there wouldn't be a guy there or a piece to our game that I didn't like. Our goaltender was tremendous, in the second half of that especially.
"And then some pretty smart, selfless play -- we got pucks deep. I really liked Anthony Duclair, for his second game back. And we got some big goals. We had a strong first [period]; we had a bunch of opportunities."

Bobrovsky won his 354th NHL game, putting him ahead of Evgeni Nabokov for most wins by a Russian goalie.
"It's definitely big," Bobrovsky said. "It's something you dream of. It takes lots of work by my teammates. I'm just fortunate enough to live in this body, and the rest God gave me."
NOTES:Jeannot was minus-1 with three hits in 11:57 of ice time. ... Lightning forward Nikita Kucherov has eight points (two goals, six assists) during a six-game point streak and extended his point streak at home to 20 games. ... Defenseman Casey Fitzgerald made his Panthers debut after being claimed off waivers from the Buffalo Sabres on Jan. 11. He had one shot on goal and one hit in 4:32.