Panthers Ease By Lightning

      The Florida Panthers crawled by the Tampa Bay Lightning 5-2 at Benchmark International Arena on Monday night. The Panthers completed a four-game road trip. 

      Florida(17-13-2) leaped out to a 1-0 lead on a shorthanded goal at the 2:16 mark. Aaron Ekblad made an outlet pass from deep in his own zone. Sam Reinhart carried the puck from the Cats defensive zone and the neutral zone across the Lightning blue line. He released a wrist shot from inner the right circle past Jonas Johansson and chalked up his 16th goal of the season.

      The Panthers expanded it 2-0 at 3:48. Uvis Balinskis sent a lead pass from the Panthers zone to the red line. Anton Lundell brought it into the Bolts zone and scored his 10th goal this year on a wrist shot from the right circle. 

       The Cats made it 3-0 with 8:12 to go in the second period. Ekblad dropped the puck to his right side entering the Lightning zone. Carter Verhaeghe took a shot from the right wing and it was deflected in by Brad Marchand from the top of the crease for his 19th goal of the campaign. 

       It became 4-0 for Florida on a power-play goal with 1:52 left in the second. Mackie Samoskevich zipped a cross-ice pass from the right wing and Reinhart snapped a shot from the left inner circle for his second tally of the contest and 17th goal this season. 

      Tampa Bay(18-12-3) got on the scoreboard with 32.6 seconds to go in the period and were down 4-1. Brayden Point cycled the puck from the left wing. Oliver Bjorkstrand angled a pass from the left point. Max Crozier beat Sergei Bobrovsky on a slap shot from above the right circle for his first NHL goal of his career. Bobrovsky had his shutout streak stopped at 134 minutes. 

       In the third period, the Lightning closed it to 4-2 at the 2:11 mark. Point backhanded a pass from the right point. J.J. Moser fired a snap shot from the left-circle dot for his third goal in 2025-26. 

       The Panthers regained a three-goal margin 5-2 at 6:37. Balinskis skated with the puck to above the left circle and pushed it ahead. Verhaeghe went to the middle and scored his 10th this season on a backhand shot.