Panthers drop Game 1 to Tampa

In Sunrise, Brayden Point scored a power play goal at 13:00 of the third period and then potted the game-winner with less than two minutes left in the game for a 5-4 Tampa Bay Lightning win over the Panthers.

Andrei Vasilevskiy made 35 saves to get the win.

Ryan McDonagh set up the game-winner off a block and long pass.

“[McDonagh] makes a huge block and has the wherewithal or the toughness to get up and make the play after blocking the shot,” Point said. “I knew that a D-man took the shot, so I knew I might have some space. Just went in, made a move, and it slipped in.”

Tampa leads the series 1-0.

“A win is a win,” Lightning head coach Jon Cooper said. “Whether you blow a team out, you win by one goal, you come back to do it, you just want to win. It was a [heck] of a hockey game. It was fun to be a part of. But you’ve got to find a way. I was proud of the guys. We had the one-goal lead going into the (third) period, and then we coughed it up, but there was just no panic on the bench and they found a way, and they’ve done it so many times. Just another example tonight.”

Nikita Kucherov also struck for a pair of goals, both off the power play, for Tampa.

“I tried to not think about the game before the game,” Kucherov said. “I didn’t know what to expect. So I was trying to make a statement, trying to have a good first shift, maybe hit somebody. That’s all I tried to do. But new hip, it’s a new hip buddy. It’s different, way better, and I feel really good.”

Jonathan Huberdeau,  Aleksander Barkov and Owen Tippett scored for the Panthers.

“Very intense game,” Panthers head coach Joel Quenneville said. “There was a lot going on out there. Their power play was the difference tonight. In 5-on-5, we were OK, but their special teams, the goals there, but they made a nice play on the winner. We got possession, and it’s on our net. Every shift is so critical against that team because they make something out of nothing. These are things we can take from that game and learn from and improve. It was a heck of a hockey game.”

Carter Verhaeghe also scored for Florida.

“We got the lead, we got the excitement, we got the momentum,” Quenneville said. “They make a nice play (to tie the game), and next thing you know, we’re still in the ballgame. I thought we played well after 4-4, and they made a nice play, and that was the difference.”

Blake Coleman scored a single marker for the Lightning to give them an early 1-0 lead.

“We started pretty well,” Barkov said. “We were excited to get it going and got the result we wanted in the first period. Obviously, after that we kind of stopped playing the same way. We took a couple of penalties in the second period, but really happy with the first period, and that’s how you want to try and play a whole game.”

Sergei Bobrovsky made 34 saves in the loss.