Both teams previously met in the postseason in 2021 and 2022 with the Lightning victorious both teams. Either the Panthers or the Lightning have both reached the Stanley Cup Final in the last four seasons.
Florida, who held the Bolts to no shots on goal in the first 16 minutes of the contest, rolled out to a 1-0 lead at the 6:17 mark of the first period. Aleksander Barkov passed the puck from the high slot. Gustav Forsling flicked a shot from the left point and Sam Reinhart redirected it from the top of the crease by Andrei Vasilevskiy.
Tampa Bay evened it up 1-1 with 3:56 left in the first. After a Steven Stamkos slap shot off a faceoff, Sergei Bobrovsky made the initial save. Anthony Cirelli quickly snapped a shot from the low right circle which was saved again. Brandon Hagel put in the rebound on a forehand shot from the low slot.
After a scoreless second period, the Panthers regained the lead 2-1 with the man advantage 58 seconds into the third. Carter Verhaeghe pushed it from the right point. Barkov centered it from the low right circle on a backdoor play and Verhaeghe steered the puck in from the blue paint. Matthew Tkachuk was given the secondary assist on the play.
The Lightning pulled their goalie for an extra attacker with 3:08 to go in the third period. It did not work as Florida scored with 2:05 left for a 3-1 lead. Tkachuk fired a forehand shot from the Tampa Bay blue line into an empty net. Aaron Ekland had the only assist on the tally.
The Bolts were awarded a power play and pulled their goalie again with 1:11 remaining. Nikita Kucherov sent a cross-ice pass from the right circle. Steven Stamkos put in a snap shot from the low left circle with 9.3 seconds left in the period.
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