The Florida Panthers were surprised by the Tampa Bay Lightning 5-1 in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals at Amerant Bank Arena on Saturday. The Cats lead this playoff series 2-1.
Defenseman Aaron Ekblad made his return to the Panthers following a 20-game suspension from the NHL. The Lightning snapped a three-game postseason losing streak to the Cats.
Florida came out on fire and broke out to a 1-0 lead at the 2:43 mark of the first period. Sam Bennett pushed a pass from the left circle and Matthew Tkachuk backhanded a shot from the right side of the crease by Andrei Vasilevskiy.
Tampa Bay evened it up 1-1 with 2:45 left in the first. Nikita Kucherov backhanded a square pass from the top right center and Jake Guentzel took a forehand shot from the slot area. It went off the right leg of Brayden Point at the top of the crease and past Sergei Bobrovsky for his second tally of the postseason.
In the second period, the Bolts jumped to a 2-1 lead with 6:43 to go. Nick Paul snapped a shot from the inner right circle to give Tampa Bay their first lead in the series.
The Lightning increased it to 3-1 just 21 seconds into the third period. Kucherov backhanded a pass from the end wall and Guentzel roofed a forehand shot from the left of the crease for his second goal of the series.
It became 4-1 for Tampa Bay with 5:41 remaining in the third. Luke Gledening lifted a wrist shot from the inner right circle.
The Panthers pulled their goalie for an extra attacker with 5:34 to go. It did not work as Anthony Cirelli placed in an empty-net goal with 5:00 left to make it 5-1. Guentzel and Kucherov were credited with assists on the play.
No comments:
Post a Comment