Kucherov scores twice in return, Lightning defeat Panthers in Game 1

SUNRISE, Fla. -- Brayden Point scored his second goal of the game for the Tampa Bay Lightning to break a tie with 1:14 remaining in a 5-4 victory against the Florida Panthers in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup First Round at BB&T Center on Sunday.

Point deked to his backhand on a breakaway against goalie Sergei Bobrovsky to score the game-winner after defenseman Ryan McDonagh blocked a shot and hit him with a long pass.
"[McDonagh] makes a huge block and has the wherewithal or the toughness to get up and make the play after blocking the shot," Point said. "I knew that a D-man took the shot, so I knew I might have some space. Just went in, made a move, and it slipped in."
Nikita Kucherov scored two power-play goals and had an assist in his return for Tampa Bay after he missed the entire regular season following hip surgery Dec. 29.
"I tried to not think about the game before the game," Kucherov said. "I didn't know what to expect. So I was trying to make a statement, trying to have a good first shift, maybe hit somebody. That's all I tried to do. But new hip, it's a new hip buddy. It's different, way better, and I feel really good."

Victor Hedman had three assists, and Andrei Vasilevskiy made 35 saves for the defending Stanley Cup champion Lightning, who are the No. 3 seed in the Discover Central Division.
Jonathan Huberdeau had a goal and two assists, and Bobrovsky made 35 saves for the Panthers, the No. 2 seed. Aleksander Barkov and Owen Tippett, playing his first Stanley Cup Playoff game, each had a goal and an assist for Florida.
"Very intense game," Panthers coach Joel Quenneville said. "There was a lot going on out there. Their power play was the difference tonight. In 5-on-5, we were OK, but their special teams, the goals there, but they made a nice play on the winner. We got possession, and it's on our net. Every shift is so critical against that team because they make something out of nothing. These are things we can take from that game and learn from and improve. It was a heck of a hockey game."
Point tied it 4-4 at 13:00 of the third period with Tampa Bay's third power-play goal.
It was the fourth playoff game in NHL history with four lead changes.
"A win is a win," Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. "Whether you blow a team out, you win by one goal, you come back to do it, you just want to win. It was a [heck] of a hockey game. It was fun to be a part of. But you've got to find a way. I was proud of the guys. We had the one-goal lead going into the (third) period, and then we coughed it up, but there was just no panic on the bench and they found a way, and they've done it so many times. Just another example tonight."
Huberdeau tied it 3-3 at 1:27 of the third period when he scored on a breakaway.
Tippett gave Florida a 4-3 lead at 4:09 off a spinning pass from Huberdeau.
"We got the lead, we got the excitement, we got the momentum," Quenneville said. "They make a nice play (to tie the game), and next thing you know, we're still in the ballgame. I thought we played well after 4-4, and they made a nice play, and that was the difference."

Game 2 of the best-of-7 series will be played here Tuesday (8 p.m. ET; CNBC, SNE, TVAS, BSFL, BSSUN).
Tampa Bay trailed 2-1 before Kucherov scored twice in the second period. He scored at 4:58 to tie it 2-2 and at 14:51 to give the Lightning a 3-2 lead, each goal coming off a pass from Hedman to the right of the net.
Blake Coleman scored shorthanded to give Tampa Bay a 1-0 lead at 7:42 of the first period, nine seconds after Florida had a power-play goal disallowed because of goalie interference. Coleman backhanded a shot from the slot after taking a feed from Yanni Gourde.
Barkov tied it 1-1 with a power-play goal at 9:41 when he one-timed a cross-ice pass from Huberdeau at the top of the right face-off circle.
After Bobrovsky made the save against Kucherov on a breakaway at 15:24, Carter Verhaeghe gave the Panthers a 2-1 lead at 16:31, scoring on a one-timer from the high slot off a feed from Barkov.
"We started pretty well," Barkov said. "We were excited to get it going and got the result we wanted in the first period. Obviously, after that we kind of stopped playing the same way. We took a couple of penalties in the second period, but really happy with the first period, and that's how you want to try and play a whole game."
Teams that win Game 1 are 490-222 (68.8 percent) winning a best-of-7 NHL playoff series, including 7-1 in the first round last season.
NOTES:Kucherov had five shots on goal in 19:21. … Tampa Bay forward Steven Stamkos had two assists and three shots on goal in 16:36 in his return after missing the final 16 games of the regular season with a lower-body injury. … Point's goal was the third-latest game-winner in regulation in Lightning postseason history. Tyler Johnson scored with two seconds left in Game 3 of the 2015 Eastern Conference Second Round against the Montreal Canadiens, and Kucherov scored with nine seconds remaining in Game 2 of the 2020 Eastern Conference Final against the New York Islanders. … Tippett is the first Panthers rookie to score a playoff goal since April 23, 1997, when David Nemirovsky scored in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals against the New York Rangers. … McDonagh and Florida center Sam Bennett and defenseman Keith Yandle each had two assists.