Lightning Take Game One From Panthers

The Tampa Bay Lightning defeated the Florida Panthers 4-1 on Tuesday night in Sunrise. The win gives Tampa Bay an early 1-0 lead over Florida in the Best-of-Seven second round playoff series.

Anthony Duclair scored first in this game, giving the Panthers a 1-0 lead at the 14:01 mark of the first period. The Lightning, in turn, were able to tie the game on the power play at the 16:27 mark of the second period when Nikita Kucherov made a sick move to set up Corey Perry's goal.

After Pierre-Edouard Bellmare scored at the 3:35 mark of the third period, it appeared the Panthers tied the game with a second goal from Anthony Duclair. The goal was disallowed after a Tampa Bay challenge successfully revealed that the puck had hit the netting and was therefore out of play before the shot had been taken.

From there the Lightning were able to take control of the game, with power play goals from Nikita Kucherov and Ross Colton to build 4-1 lead. Andrei Vasilveskiy allowed a single goal for his second consecutive game, going 33-for-34 in net to help the Lightning take an early lead in the playoff series.

The Panthers will look to bounce back and even the playoff series in game two on Thursday night. Puck drop Thursday is scheduled for 7:00 PM - pregame coverage begins at 6:00 PM on News Radio WFLA.

PHOTO COURTESY GETTY IMAGES


Sponsored Content

Sponsored Content