Sunrise, FL.- After defeating their cross-state rivals and securing victories in the first two games of the Eastern Conference First Round on the road, the Florida Panthers opened their home playoff series with a 5-1 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning in Game 3 at Amerant Bank Arena.
Game 4 is scheduled for Monday in Sunrise. The Panthers currently hold a series lead of 2-1.
“[We can] learn a lot from this game,” captain Aleksander Barkov said. “Obviously, we had a great start. We did the right things, but they’re a great team also. They played really well and won the game today. All we’ve got to do is learn.”
The Panthers energized the crowd early, taking an initial lead just 2:43 into the first period when Matthew Tkachuk scored on a pass from Sam Bennett.
After missing the final 25 games of the regular season due to a lower-body injury, Tkachuk has gradually increased his ice time and has recorded three goals in the current series.
Following an opportunity to even the score shortly thereafter, the Lightning’s power play was effectively neutralized by Florida’s penalty kill, which did not allow any shots on goal during the two-minute advantage.
For Tampa Bay, Jake Guentzel secured the equalizing goal with a skillful move in the slot, followed by a wrist shot that deflected off Brayden Point and past Sergei Bobrovsky, tying the game at 1-1 with 17:15 remaining in the period.
After the first period, the Panthers held a lead in scoring chances at 13-3 during even-strength play.
Matthew Tkachuk is one of three players in franchise history to score 20 goals in the playoffs.
The Panthers held a significant advantage in shot attempts (50-30) and scoring chances at 5-on-5 (24-14).
Aleksander Barkov led the team with nine faceoff wins.
Eetu Luostarinen recorded a team-high nine hits.
Both Aaron Ekblad and Seth Jones each blocked four shots during the game.
Photo/FloridaPanthers/X
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