In Tampa, the Florida Panthers were unable to build off their Game 3 win on Thursday and lost, 6-2, to the Lightning in Saturday matinee.
Nikita Kucherov picked up a goal and four points in the win before leaving the game in the third period with an apparent injury.
“I didn’t see the replay,” the Lightning’s Victor Hedman said. “Obviously, you don’t want to see that, but we’ll probably see it on the replay in the room. We’ll keep that inside our room. We know what to do, we’re an experienced group. We know how to handle adversity and different ups and downs in the series. If it’s a dirty play, I’m sure it will get looked at.”
Andrei Vasilevskiy made 39 saves to earn the win.
“We came here to win a hockey game, and we did,” Tampa Bay head coach Jon Cooper said. “The power play was outstanding. The penalty killing got the job done. We gamed it out. We’ve got better in us, we know that. We’ve come here to win four, we’ve only won three. We still have to get another one.
“We have to be better with our emotions and not getting caught up in the antics that are going on in a game. We can be more physical. We can be a better hockey team. But I like where we’re sitting at in the series, and believe me, we’ll be bringing it two nights from now.”
Jonathan Huberdeau and Carter Verhaeghe were the Panthers strikers.
“Just go back home and forget about this one,” the Panthers’ Aleksander Barkov said. “We played well in their zone, had some shifts in their zone, but they found a way to score goals. That’s unacceptable. We have to find a way to eliminate those. Go play in front of our home fans, get excited and play the right way for 60 minutes.”
Game 5 is Sunrise on Monday.
“You look at this game, and it looked like we were out of it, but I don’t think that was the feeling,” the Panthers’ Anton Stralman said. “I don’t think we gave up a lot of chances. The ones we did give up were just too good.”
Anthony Cirelli and Yanni Gourde gave the Lighting a 2-0 lead in the game.
“I just tried to get to the front of the net, tried to screen the goalie,” Gourde said. “And I tried to have a step on the side so any rim out I can get to the puck from behind the net. I was fortunate enough to see the puck the whole way and get a stick on it.”
The Panthers cut the lead to 2-1, but Ondrej Palat pushed it to 3-1.
“When you see him go down and he stays down, it’s very concerning,” Tampa’s Alex Killorn (two goals) said. “I didn’t see the play or whatever happened, but guys on our team aren’t going to stay down unless they are really hurt. … Hopefully he’s going to be OK.”
Sergei Bobrovsky got the start for t6he Panthers and made nine saves and yielded five goals before getting the hook in the middle frame.
“They’re opportunistic,” Florida head coach Joel Quenneville said. “Their power play is pretty dangerous, and I say pretty dangerous, extremely dangerous. Some of the looks, that’s where they had the quality, and they don’t need much. We have to be better on that PK.”
Chris Driedger, who made 11 saves in a mop up role.
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