Lightning Blitz Panthers

     The Tampa Bay Lightning defeated the Florida Panthers 6-1 at Amalie Arena on Monday night. The Panthers had scored 17 goals in their three-game winning streak prior to this contest and have not won in Tampa Bay since March 2016.
     It the last game of the four-game season series between both teams which the Lightning won 3-1. It was also the final game for both clubs before the holiday break.
     It took 41 seconds for Tampa Bay(18-13-4) to go up 1-0. Erik Cernak released a wrist shot that was deflected in by Brayden Point in the crease for his 14th goal of the season.
     The Lightning made it 2-0 at the 15:06 mark. Ondrej Palat sent a cross-ice pass from the slot area to Point on the left circle. A pass went to Victor Hedman at the top of the zone and he blasted in a slap shot.
     The Bolts made it a three-goal lead on a power-play goal with 1:57 left in the first period. Palat chipped the puck from the low right circle and Mikhail Sergachev scored on a snap shot from the high slot.
     In the second period, Florida(18-13-5) cut it to 3-1 at 2:47 with a power-play tally. Jonathan Huberdeau put in his 14th goal of the years on assists from Aaron Ekblad and Vincent Trocheck.
     It was a fast response by the Lightning on the power play at the 5:53 mark. Steven Stamkos took a slap shot from the left circle which was saved, however Alex Killorn put in the rebound.
     Tampa Bay extended it to 5-1 on the man advantage with 10:08 remaining in the second. Stamkos passed it from the left circle to the slot and Point pushed a backhand pass to the right circle where Nikita Kucherov snapped a shot into the cage for his 13th goal of the campaign.
     It became 6-1 for the Bolts with 1:55 left in the third period. Point won a faceoff in the right circle and drew it back to Kucherov. He connected a cross-ice pass to the top left circle and Hedman blistered a slap shot for his second goal of the contest.