The Florida Panthers and Tampa Bay Lightning met along the Gulf Coast on Sunday afternoon for the first time since they met in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Florida ended up taking the series in five games back in April, and continued so as they took the first of four matchups in the Battle of Florida by a final of 4-2.
Shots were about even through the first 15 minutes of the frame, but it was the Panthers who got on the scoresheet first.
On the cycle in the Lightning zone, the puck was worked back to the point, where Ekblad’s one-timer found Sam Reinhart with traffic in front, and redirected the puck past Andrei Vasilevskiiy for his 21st of the season at 15:49.
Lightning got their first just a few seconds before the buzzer sounded to tie it at one. While on the forecheck, the Bolts broke the puck free, and before the Panthers defensemen could not get back around their goal, as Victor Hedman found Nick Paul back door in.
Paul made the Panthers pay with less than five seconds to go, and the two teams went to the locker room tied at one, and even in shots at 10.
Florida got into penalty trouble in the second period, but held the Lightning without a shot on both their penalty kills.
It was not only the Cats getting shots while on the kill, but scoring in the process.
AJ Greer stripped Nikita Kucherov as the Lightning tried gaining the zone, and he and Tomas Nosek were off to the races.
Off a two-on-one, Nosek’s shot was saved, but Greer was there on the follow through to squeeze it by Vasilevskiiy on the short side.
However, they were not done scoring short handed, as Conor Geekie tried a drop pass to Anthony Cirelli, Eetu Luostarinen created the turnover in the neutral zone.
Fourty-two seconds after their first short handed goal of the game, Luostarinen was all alone on a breakaway chance and beat Vasilevskiiy over the shoulder and made it 3-1 at 11:10 of the second frame.
It is not over until it is over, and the Lightning made it a hockey game a few minutes into the third period.
Off a quick breakout, Jake Guentzel found Brayden Point coming through the neutral zone with speed. Feeding him in stride, he finished the breakaway chance past the leg of Spencer Knight to bring it to a one-goal deficit at 3:26 of the third.
Florida iced the game with just over 30 seconds left in the game when Tampa Bay brought on the extra attacker.
Dmitry Kulikov separated the puck from Brandon Hagel as the Lightning gained the zone, and with the Panthers breaking the puck out, Reinhart was the first to it in the neutral zone, and knocked it into the empty net to make it 4-2.
Panthers took the first of the home-and-home and regained their lead in the Atlantic Division.
These two teams will meet again tomorrow night from Amerant Bank Arena.
LATEST STORIES FROM THE HOCKEY NEWS – FLORIDA
Panthers in Tampa to kick off holiday home and home with rival Lightning
Panthers Sasha Barkov shows off world class skills during incredible OT sequence
Three Takeaways: Panthers discipline pays off, Sam Bennett gutting it out
Barkov, Bobrovsky shine in Panthers 2-1 OT win over St. Louis
The Hockey Show: Paul Maurice stories, trade talk, Rangers on the brink
