The Tampa Bay jumped out to an early three-goal lead in the first period and cruised to a 5-1 victory over the Florida Panthers.
The Lightning scored with under two minutes gone in the first period when Brayden Point took a Yanni Gourde feed and snapped a shot past Panthers goaltender Vitek Vanecek. J.J. Moser picked up the other assist.
Later in the period, Point set up Conor Geekie in the right circle and blasted home a one-timer to give the Lightning a two-goal advantage. It was Geekie’s second goal in as many games after being recalled from the Lightning’s American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate in Syracuse. Victor Hedman picked up his 50th assist of the season.
With just under two minutes left in the period, Anthony Cirelli grabbed a loose puck in the corner and set up Jake Guentzel in front of the net for a shorthanded goal to give the Lightning a 3-0 advantage. It was the second shorthanded goal of Guentzel’s NHL career and first since Jan. 12, 2019.
The Lightning added to their lead in the second period when Gourde found Nikita Kucherov at the side of the net for a goal as Vanecek couldn’t get over quickly enough to stop the shot. With that goal, Kucherov became only the 14th player in NHL history to record three or more 120-point seasons.
The Panthers finally got on the board when Brad Marchand beat Lightning goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy to make the score 4-1. This was Marchand’s 1,100th NHL game.
The briskly paced second period saw no whistles blown for the last ten minutes of action.
Tempers flared between the teams in the third period when the Panthers’ Jesse Puljujarvi was issued a match penalty for an illegal check to the head on the Lightning’s Mitch Chaffee.
When Niko Mikkola was whistled for holding, the Lightning went on a two-man advantage and made the most of it when Darren Raddysh hit a one-timer to put the Lightning up 5-1.
With the Toronto Maple Leafs securing the Atlantic Division title, these two teams will meet in the first round of the NHL Playoffs.
