Lightning defeat Panthers in Game 2, extend series lead

SUNRISE, Fla. -- Andrei Vasilevskiy made 32 saves, and the Tampa Bay Lightning extended their lead in the best-of-7 Stanley Cup First Round with a 3-1 win against the Florida Panthers in Game 2 at BB&T Center on Tuesday.

"He was outstanding," Lightning captain Steven Stamkos said. "We know he's the best goalie in the world; he showed it tonight. He's our rock back there and he was outstanding tonight and a big part of our win."

Stamkos, Ondrej Palat and Yanni Gourde scored for the defending Stanley Cup champion Lightning, the No. 3 seed in the Discover Central Division. Tampa Bay won Game 1 5-4 on Sunday.
"We've been here before," Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. "If you want to have a long run and give yourself a chance, there are going to be times that we have to win the 5-4 game and there's going to be times you have to win the 2-1 game. We've been here before and I thought the guys did a great job just shutting it down."
Chris Driedger, making his first Stanley Cup Playoff start on his 27th birthday, made 26 saves. Mason Marchment scored for the No. 2-seeded Panthers, who played without center Sam Bennett after he was suspended one game for his hit on Blake Coleman in the third period of Game 1.
"It had the pace of the last game particularly early and then they scored, and they scored after that," Panthers coach Joel Quenneville said. "Then they had the lead they were looking for, so it was more patient of a game and a lot more structured of a game. We fought back, had a good later part of the second and were in the right spot. We couldn't buy the goal we were looking for."
Game 3 is at Tampa Bay on Thursday. Teams with a 2-0 lead are 330-51 (86.6 percent) winning a best-of-7 NHL playoff series, including 4-0 in the first round last season.
Tampa Bay took a 1-0 lead at 4:52 of the first period on Stamkos' goal when his pass across the front of the net bounced off defenseman Anton Stralman.

Palat made it 2-0 at 14:57 when he scored on a rebound after Point got around defenseman MacKenzie Weegar and his shot went off the crossbar.
"It was a good feeling," Tampa Bay defenseman Ryan McDonagh said. "You want to play with the lead. It allows us to just play high percentage and you don't have to force things or chase the game. I thought we did a good job continuing to create things. Even when you have the lead there, you don't want to just sit back completely and give up a lot of ice. Our group feels confident in those situations."
Marchment made it to 2-1 at 14:21 of the second period when he redirected Carter Verhaeghe's pass in front of the net for his first NHL playoff goal.
Tampa Bay, which was 3-for-4 on the power play in Game 1, killed off two penalties in the third period and was 3-for-3 for the game.
"Our power play was instrumental in Game 1, and the PK was instrumental in Game 2," Cooper said. "Usually you don't have a ton of power plays, but they get three tonight. It always seems to work that way; you have the lead and you get something called on you late and we had to kill it off. I thought that was a huge part of the game that we killed it off. Guys were laying out blocking shots, getting clears. You need to do that to win hockey games this time of the year and guys pulled through."
Gourde scored into an empty net with 1:25 remaining for the 3-1 final.
"We moved better in the offensive zone [in Game 1] and we created chances in the offensive zone more than we did today," Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov said. "But sometimes it's gonna be like this and we just have to find a way. It doesn't matter how you win, you've just got to win."
NOTES: Each team used seven defensemen, with Luke Schenn entering the lineup for Tampa Bay and replacing forward Mathieu Joseph, and Stralman replacing Bennett for Florida. … Palat's goal was his 33rd in the playoffs, tying Martin St. Louis for second place in Lightning history behind Nikita Kucherov (38). … Driedger became the first goalie to make his NHL playoff debut on his birthday. … Marchment's goal came 10 days shy of the 19-year anniversary of his father's first NHL playoff goal, and each came against the defending Stanley Cup champions; Bryan Marchment scored for the Chicago Blackhawks against the Pittsburgh Penguins on May 28, 1992.