Sunrise, Fla. (AP) — Here’s a sentence that has hardly ever been stated: Florida leads Tampa Bay in a playoff collection.
And for the Panthers, which is a great way to start off.
Carter Verhaeghe tapped in a pinpoint pass from Aleksander Barkov for the direct 58 seconds into the third interval, Matthew Tkachuk included a goal and an support and the Panthers defeat the Lightning 3-2 in Match 1 of their NHL playoff series Sunday.
Barkov had two helps, Sam Reinhart also scored and Sergei Bobrovsky experienced 17 will save for the Panthers, who won a Game 1 on house ice for the to start with time due to the fact 1997.
“Game 1 was fantastic,” Tkachuk reported, “especially remaining on the winning facet.”
Brandon Hagel and Steven Stamkos bought the ambitions for Tampa Bay. Andrei Vasilevskiy manufactured 25 stops for the Lightning, who pulled him for an further attacker with 3:08 remaining. Tkachuk got an empty-netter 63 seconds afterwards, and Florida quickly commenced celebrating a 1- sequence lead.
Stamkos scored with 9.3 seconds left for the Lightning, but Florida controlled the ensuing face-off and time expired.
Verhaeghe’s aim arrived on the ability perform, one particular that carried about from late in the next time period. Barkov held the puck on the appropriate wing, then sent a diagonal go by the slot to a hard-charging Verhaeghe — who was driving every person else and simply just touched the puck into an open net.
“I did not even see the pass,” Verhaeghe said. “Just hit my adhere. Which is how well Barky can pass the puck.”
It’s the 3rd time the Sunshine Condition rivals have satisfied in the playoffs — both equally of the initial two owning gone Tampa Bay’s way, and in essence in a person-sided fashion. The Lightning received 4-2 on their way to their 2nd straight Stanley Cup in 2021, then swept Florida 4- in 2022 and outscored the Panthers 13-3 in that sequence.
That ouster brought variations to Florida, which hired Paul Maurice to carry out a new style geared toward profitable in the playoffs without having sacrificing offense. The Panthers rode that to the Stanley Cup last final yr, to the Atlantic Division title this 12 months — and it was enough in Video game 1.
“We have historical past amongst these two groups,” Barkov said. “Last two situations, it didn’t do the job out well for us but we want to improve it now. I believe we have a terrific option in this article and currently was unreal. It is been a wonderful atmosphere here all season, but man, we missed the playoffs. We missed this atmosphere.”
Florida took the game’s 1st 8 pictures, retaining Tampa Bay from finding everything to Bobrovsky till 15:55 experienced elapsed in the opening time period. And then it was the Lightning who clamped down — keeping Florida to only six shots in the subsequent 25 minutes, no modest feat against the crew that has gotten, by considerably, the most shots on internet in the NHL above the past 4 seasons.
Photographs right after two intervals: Florida 14, Tampa Bay 10. It tied the next-fewest shots the Panthers experienced by way of 40 minutes this season, and tied the 3rd-fewest the Lightning had entering a 3rd period of time.
“That was a really tight-examining game,” Lightning coach Jon Cooper claimed. “And in the conclusion, a electricity-perform goal was the distinction.”
Reinhart scored on a tip-in 6:13 into the video game, and Hagel linked off a rebound from the slot at 16:04 of the very first. It stayed that way until Verhaeghe skated unnoticed to the still left aspect of the crease and tapped in the pass from Barkov for the 2-1 guide.
“Came down to not executing on the electrical power engage in to start out the 3rd,” Lightning defenseman Victor Hedman mentioned. “That was the change right now.”
UP Upcoming
Match 2 is Tuesday in Sunrise.
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