The Florida Panthers will look to put a stranglehold on the series when they visit the Tampa Bay Lightning tonight at AMALIE Arena for Game 3 of the opening round. Carter Verhaeghe’s roof job 2:59 into overtime gave the Cats another 3-2 victory, putting them up two games to none. Sam Bennett, who will be out for the foreseeable future, opened the scoring and set-up Vladimir Tarasenko’s first playoff goal as a Panther, and Sergei Bobrovksy made 21 saves, including one for the ages on Matt Dumba late in the second period. Brayden Point and Steven Stamkos scored for the Lightning, who went just 1-for-6 on the power play. Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 34 of 37 shots.
- WHEN: 7:00 p.m. ET
- WHERE: AMALIE Arena – Tampa, FL
- ON THE TUBE: Bally Sports Florida, Bally Sports SUN, TBS, MAX
- ON THE DIAL: 560 WQAM (D/B), 92.1 Real Radio (PB), Thunder 100.3 (Keys)
- SOCIALS: #TimeToHunt, #GoBolts, #FLAvsTBL, @LitterBoxCats, LBC FaceBook
- ENEMY INTEL: Raw Charge
- SERIES: Panthers lead 2-0
- LAST MEETING: @FLA 3, TBL 2 – (Recap) 4/23/2023
- NEXT MEETING: Game 4 – April 27, 2024
- PROJECTED STARTERS: Florida: Bobrovsky (2-0 .905 / 1.95 0SO) Tampa Bay: Andrei Vasilevskiy (0-2 .922 / 2.49 0SO)
- PLAYER STATS: Florida / Tampa Bay
Thursday in the Stanley Cup Playoffs
- Hurricanes at Islanders 7:30 p.m. (ESPN2) (Carolina leads 2-0)
Wednesday’s results
- Bruins 4, Maple Leafs 2 (Boston leads series 2-1)
- Stars Golden Knights 3, Stars 1 (Vegas leads series 2-0)
- Kings 5, Oilers 4 (OT) (Series tied 1-1)