Reinhart scores twice to help Panthers hold off Lightning

TAMPA -- Sam Reinhart scored twice, and Aleksander Barkov had three assists for the Florida Panthers in a 3-2 win against the Tampa Bay Lightning at Amalie Arena on Wednesday.

Aaron Ekblad scored his first goal of the season for the Panthers (20-12-2), who have won consecutive games for the first time since Dec. 10. Sergei Bobrovsky made 27 saves.

"We'll take it. First game after Christmas, you never know what you're going to get," Florida coach Paul Maurice said. "They worked hard, they fought hard. We're pretty close to where we want to be."

Nikita Kucherov got his 300th NHL goal, and Michael Eyssimont also scored for the Lightning (17-14-5), who had won three straight. Andrei Vasilevskiy made 28 saves.

"They got that early goal, and it probably took a little air out of our tires,” Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper said. “I don't know why because there was plenty of game left. It's a little disappointing to come out of the break at home and to have the state rival beat us on home ice. That's disappointing."

Ekblad gave Florida a 1-0 lead at 4:16 of the first period with a redirection of a shot from Gustav Forsling.

Reinhart extended it to 2-0 at 1:24 of the second period with a shot from the left hash marks off a pass by Evan Rodrigues.

"I think the focus was to try to get it in their zone and have some [offensive] zone time," Rodrigues said. "The past couple of games we've gotten back to wearing teams down. I think that's when we're successful. We've gotten back to that the past two games."

Kucherov scored 29 seconds into the third period on a rebound to cut it to 2-1. He leads the NHL with 58 points (24 goals, 34 assists) this season.

Reinhart respnded with a short-handed goal to make it 3-1 at 3:11. Barkov forced a turnover, and Reinhart fought off Victor Hedman before beating Vasilevskiy with a backhand.

"We had to be smarter in certain areas, especially at the end of shifts, to minimize their chances," Reinhart said. "Pace and simplicity. It's an easy game we're playing. Everyone is predictable and easy to read out there."

Eyssimont scored 20 seconds later to cut it to 3-2.

"It was deflating when they made it 3-1, so to bounce back like that gave us a chance for sure," Eyssimont said. "We were around Bobrovsky all night and they were boxing us out. We're trying to get in there, but we were losing the battles."

Bobrovsky turned away several high-danger chances throughout the game, but none bigger than when he made a glove save on Brayden Point at 10:16 of the third period.

"He made some nice saves, not only on me, but on other chances we had," Point said. "He's playing well and played well tonight. I had to try to get around the [defenseman] there. I thought I made a good play, and he was still able to get across. It was a really great save at a big time in the game."

Said Bobrovsky: "It's a big win for us against a really good team. It's always a rivalry and it's a great fight. They are a smart team offensively and create good chances. You have to be alert. It's a great opponent and we all bring our best against each other."

NOTES: Maurice coached his 1,800th game, third-most in NHL history behind Scotty Bowman (2,142) and Barry Trotz (1,812). He is 837-724-99 with 140 ties. ... Barkov has 412 assists, three shy of the Panthers record held by Jonathan Huberdeau. ... Kucherov scored his 300th goal in his 679th game. He is the second-fastest to reach the mark in Lightning history, behind Steven Stamkos (550 games).