The Florida Panthers beat the Tampa Bay Lightning 6-3 in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals at Amalie Arena on Wednesday night. The Panthers advanced to the next round as they won the best-of-seven series 4-1. It is the fourth straight season they have moved on to the Eastern Conference Semifinals.
The Panthers eliminated the Lightning from the first round of the postseason for the second straight year. The Cats did not have defenseman Aaron Ekblad available due to a two-game suspension. He will not participate in Game 1 of the next series.
Tampa Bay skated out to a 1-0 lead at the 2:33 mark of the opening period. Gage Gonclaves put in a wrist shot from the right side of the crease past Sergei Bobrovsky for his first goal of the playoffs.
Florida tied it up 1-1 at 5:21 with the man advantage. Sam Reinhart passed from the right wing and Matthew Tkachuk shot the puck from the right point. Carter Verhaeghe burned his former team as he scored his second playoff goal from the top of the crease with a wrist shot by Andrei Vasilevskiy.
The Panthers jumped to a 2-1 lead with 9:54 left in the first. Eetu Luostarinen tapped the puck in the left circle and Brad Marchand centered it from the left wing. It would off the left skate of Anton Lundell in the crease area and into the cage for his second tally in the postseason.
The Lightning responded and evened it up 2-2 with 7:44 to go in the period. Nick Paul got to a loose puck and snapped a shot from the slot area.
The Cats regained the lead 3-2 just 52 seconds into the second period. Luostarinen backhanded a bank pass from the end wall. Gustav Forsling fired a slap shot from the left point and Aleksander Barkov deflected it in from the top of the crease for his first goal in the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Tampa Bay pulled even again 3-3 at the 9:57 mark on the power play. Victor Hedman angled a pass from the top of the zone. Jake Guentzel chalked up his third goal of the series on a wrist shot from just above the left circle.
Florida took a 4-3 lead with 4:47 remaining in the second. Luostarinen made an outlet pass from his own zone to start a 2-on-1 breakaway. Marchand zipped a cross-ice pass from the left side of the neutral zone. Sam Bennett skated in and scored on a forehand shot from the inner right circle for his third playoff goal.
In the third period, the Panthers expanded their lead to 5-3 with 6:58 to go. Lundell sent a lead pass from the neutral zone. Marchand connected a cross-ice pass from the right goal line and Luostarinen steered it in from the left side of the crease for his first tally this postseason. It was the fourth point of the contest for Luostarinen.
The Bolts pulled their goalie for an extra skater with 4:49 remaining. Florida quickly pounced on the opportunity as Reinhart released a wrist shot from the red line into an empty net with 4:24 left in the third to give them a three-goal margin.
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