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SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) — This is a sentence that has never been spoken before: Florida is ahead of Tampa Bay in a playoff series.
And for the Panthers, that’s a fantastic way to begin.
Carter Verhaeghe gently tapped in a precise pass from Aleksander Barkov to take the lead 58 seconds into the third period. Matthew Tkachuk also scored and assisted, helping the Panthers win 3-2 against the Lightning in Game 1 of their NHL playoff series on Sunday.
Barkov provided two assists, Sam Reinhart also scored, and Sergei Bobrovsky made 17 saves for the Panthers, who won a Game 1 at home for the first time since 1997.
“Game 1 was fantastic,” Tkachuk said, “especially being on the winning side.”
Brandon Hagel and Steven Stamkos scored for Tampa Bay. Andrei Vasilevskiy made 25 saves for the Lightning, who substituted him for an extra player with 3:08 remaining. Tkachuk scored an empty-net goal 63 seconds later, and Florida began celebrating a 1-0 series lead.
Stamkos scored with 9.3 seconds left for the Lightning, but Florida controlled the following face-off and time ran out.
Verhaeghe’s goal was scored on a power play that carried over from late in the second period. Barkov held the puck on the right wing, then delivered a diagonal pass through the slot to an onrushing Verhaeghe, who was behind everyone else and simply touched the puck into an open net.
“I didn’t even see the pass,” Verhaeghe said. “Just hit my stick. That’s how well Barky can pass the puck.”
It’s the third time the Sunshine State rivals have met in the playoffs. Tampa Bay won both of the first two encounters, and it was pretty one-sided. The Lightning won 4-2 in 2021 on their way to their second straight Stanley Cup, then swept Florida 4-0 in 2022 and outscored the Panthers 13-3 in that series.
That defeat led to changes in Florida. The team hired Paul Maurice to implement a new playing style focused on winning in the playoffs without sacrificing offense. The Panthers rode that to the Stanley Cup final last year, to the Atlantic Division title this year — and it was enough in Game 1.
“We have history between these two teams,” Barkov said. “Last two times, it didn’t work out well for us but we want to change it now. I think we have a great opportunity here and today was unreal. It’s been a great atmosphere here all season, but man, we missed the playoffs. We missed this atmosphere.”
Florida took the first eight shots of the game, preventing Tampa Bay from getting anything to Bobrovsky until 15:55 had passed in the opening period. Then it was the Lightning who shut down the Panthers, allowing only six shots in the next 25 minutes, no small feat against the team that has had the most shots on goal in the NHL over the last four seasons.
Shots after two periods: Florida 14, Tampa Bay 10. It was the second-lowest number of shots the Panthers had in the first 40 minutes this season, and tied for the third-lowest number of shots the Lightning had entering a third period.
“That was a pretty tightly contested game,” Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. “And ultimately, a power-play goal was the difference.”
Reinhart scored by redirecting the puck 6:13 into the game, and Hagel scored from a rebound in the slot at 16:04 of the first period. The score remained the same until Verhaeghe skated unnoticed to the left side of the goal and tapped in the pass from Barkov for a 2-1 lead.
“The game came down to not being able to score on the power play at the start of the third period,” said Lightning defenseman Victor Hedman. “That was the deciding factor today.”
UP NEXT
The second game will take place on Tuesday in Sunrise.
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AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl
