Sergei Bobrovsky makes 26 saves, Panthers beat Lightning 5
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Sergei Bobrovsky made 26 saves, Matthew Tkachuk scored twice and the Florida Panthers beat the Tampa Bay Lightning 5-3 on Thursday night to take a 3-0 lead in the first-round playoff series.
Brandon Montour, Sam Reinhart and Steven Lorentz also scored for the Panthers, who will seek a sweep Saturday night in Tampa.
Tkachuk had a first-period goal and added an empty-netter with 32 seconds left.
“We’re playing some good hockey right now, and we’re happy with where we’re at right now in the series,” Tkachuk said. “The fourth (win) is the hardest, everyone says that, so we have to come out absolutely ready to go on Saturday.”
Steven Stamkos, Tyler Motte and Nicholas Paul scored for Tampa Bay, with Paul cutting it to 4-3 with 5:10 left. Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 26 shots.
“It’s tough when you get in situations like this what you’re going to say right at this moment (to the team),” Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. “But the talk is you want the believers to show up to the rink tomorrow. And if you’re not going to believe, then you don’t have to come. Well see how many guys show up tomorrow.”