Tkachuk has 5 points, Panthers score 7 in win against Lightning

Matthew Tkachuk had two goals and three assists for the Florida Panthers in a 7-1 win against the Tampa Bay Lightning at FLA Live Arena in Sunrise, Florida, on Monday.

Tkachuk, who was named MVP of the 2023 Honda All-Star Game on Saturday, was plus-5 and extended his point streak to seven games (five goals, 10 assists).
"I'm tired now, it's definitely a long weekend," Tkachuk said. "But I had an unreal time this weekend, and then nothing better than coming back and seeing the guys again. We're looking forward to the last really good home stretch to finish off the year, and it started tonight."
Carter Verhaeghe had two goals and two assists, and Paul Maurice got his 800th NHL coaching win for the Panthers (25-22-6). Sergei Bobrovsky made 32 saves.
"It's great to have a big number win like that to feel good," Maurice said. "But we had such an emotional win against Boston (before the All-Star break), and then you don't get to kind of build off of it; you leave town. To come back to have another one, we can be real positive about the direction."

Nikita Kucherov scored for the Lightning (32-16-1), who won their previous three games and will host the San Jose Sharks on Tuesday. Andrei Vasilevskiy made 42 saves.
It was the first game for each team since Jan. 28.
"We didn't play well, so I'm not sure there's any rhyme or reason," Tampa Bay captain Steven Stamkos said. "So, thankfully we play again tomorrow and we just wipe that one because there's not going to be much good coming out of that one, obviously."
Verhaeghe gave the Panthers a 1-0 lead at 8:04 of the first period with a one-timer off a pass by Tkachuk.
Sam Bennett made it 2-0 at 1:42 of the second after a pass from behind the net by Tkachuk.
Kucherov cut it to 2-1 at 3:02 on a one-timer from the point that beat Bobrovsky to the short side, but Tkachuk scored on the power play at 8:40 when he batted a puck past Vasilevskiy to make it 3-1.
Eetu Luostarinen gave the Panthers a 4-1 lead at 17:56 on a redirection of Brandon Montour's shot.
"Everybody contributed," Tkachuk said. "'Bob' made some huge saves when it was 2-1 and 3-1 that allowed us to get that fourth. I thought we kept playing our game. Lots of shots, but it's one thing to get a lot of shots, I thought we had a lot of good looks."

Eric Staal made it 5-1 at 2:53 of the third period when got in front of a puck Vasilevskiy tried to send around the boards and tucked it into an open net.
Verhaeghe got his second goal off another assist from Tkachuk to make it 6-1 at 5:26, and Tkachuk scored another power-play goal at 14:23 for the 7-1 final.
"I want to say that we're still on vacation, but their will to win was a little bit stronger than ours tonight," Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. "I just thought it was too easy a night for them in our zone. Hence, the result happened."
Aleksander Barkov left the game for Florida in the second period after blocking a shot by Mikhail Sergachev.
"He couldn't come back and probably won't skate tomorrow, but we don't think it is going to be long term," Maurice said. "Tomorrow I'll give you a better idea, but there's a good chance he plays in the next game (against the Sharks on Thursday)."
NOTES:Tkachuk had five points in a game twice with the Calgary Flames (Jan. 24, 2022, against the St. Louis Blues; March 15, 2019, against the New York Rangers). He has 28 points (10 goals, 18 assists) in the past 15 games. … Maurice is the sixth coach to reach 800 NHL wins, joining Scotty Bowman (1,244), Joel Quenneville (969), Barry Trotz (914), Ken Hitchcock (849) and Lindy Ruff (814). … Verhaeghe has nine goals in the past nine games. … Lightning forward Ross Colton took a shot off his foot late in the third and left the game. There was no update. … Vasilevskiy also gave up seven goals on Feb. 22, 2020, against the Arizona Coyotes. … Kucherov has 11 points (three goals, eight assists) during a seven-game point streak.