Matthew Tkachuk made a triumphant return to the lineup, and the Florida Panthers cruised to a 6-2 victory over the overwhelmed Tampa Bay Lightning in Game 1 at Amalie Arena.
Playing in his first tilt with the Panthers since February 8, Tkachuk scored two second period power-play goals and set up Nate Schmidt for another man-advantage marker to complete the scoring in the third, sparking the Cats to a huge road win.
Florida grabbed an early league when Mackie Samoskevich hustled to beat Ryan McDonagh to a loose puck. The rookie gathered along the right boards and then sent the puck back to Sam Bennett, who bunted it out of the air past Andrei Vasilevskiy at the 3:44 mark.
The Lightning would take an advantage of an iffy roughing call on Tkachuk to even the score at 12:21. After taking a pass from Victor Hedman, Nikita Kucherov slapped a shot on goal that Sergei Bobrovsky foiled, but Jake Guentzel was in the right place at the right time and was able to collect the rebound below the goal line and deftly deposit the puck into the back of the net before Bobrovsky could seal off the post.
The Panthers forged back ahead with 45 seconds left in the frame when Carter Verhaeghe got the puck back to Dmitry Kulikov at the right point and he wristed a shot towards the cage that was deflected in by Sam Reinhart. Reinhart got a stride on Hedman, and was able to tip the puck in after it first caught a piece of Brandon Hagel’s stick in a fine display of hand/eye coordination.
Early in the second, a thunderous check by Eetu Luostarinen forced a turnover by Tampa Bay defenseman Emil Lilleberg. The puck came to Bennett, who quickly fed Brad Marchand in the left circle. The former Bruin fired it on goal and Vasilevskiy made the save, only to see Luostarinen jostle the puck free, which allowed Schmidt to streak in and easily finish at 4:41. Luostarinen didn’t make contact with puck, so the assists went to Marchand, his first playoff point as a Panther, and Playoff Sam, who in addition to his two points, dished out a game-high seven hits.
Lightning coach Jon Cooper inexplicably challenged for goalie interference and lost, putting the Panthers on their first power play.
Fourteen seconds later Cooper’s charges were down by three. Following a hold-in by a determined Samoskevich, Aleksander Barkov swatted the puck down low to Reinhart, who centered in front to a wide-open Tkachuk. Tkachuk dangled the puck in front of Vasilevskiy before whipping it home along the ice.
Tkachuk would add another 4:49 later with Lilleberg off for interference. After Barkov unsuccessfully drove the net, Zemgus Girgensons cleared the puck right to Tkachuk, who gloved it down and wristed it in off a befuddled Vasilevskiy.
Tampa Bay would pull one back at 13:04 when Brayden Point (who else?) rifled in a sweet McDonagh pass from the lower left circle to put a bit of energy back into the building. Gage Goncalves drew the second helper for his first-ever postseason point.
The Panthers would get through the rest of the period with the three-goal lead intact and then add to it 5:09 into the third, when Tkachuk patiently waited before feeding Schmidt, who drove a rising shot past a screened Vasilevskiy with Erik Cernak in the sin bin. The secondary assist on Schmidt’s second of the night went to Captain Barkov.
After struggling mightily to score as the regular season came to a close, the Panthers had no such problem last night, as they converted six times on just 16 shots. A 37.5% shooting percentage on Vasilevskiy? Who’da thunk it? As far as playoff openers go, – yes, there were a few warts – this one couldn’t have gone much better. The Cats at near full-strength looked both efficient and dangerous, and it was a beautiful sight to behold.
Nuts & Bolts
- After missing the final 25 games of the regular season, Matthew Tkachuk returned with a bang, producing two goals and an assist to earn First Star honors as Florida’s power play went a perfect 3-for-3 on the night.
- Nate Schmidt, who scored five times during the regular season, became just the second defenseman in franchise history to pot two goals in a playoff game, joining Brandon Montour, who put up a brace against the Boston Bruins on April 19, 2023.
- Sergei Bobrovsky made 20 saves to collect his 46th career playoff win. Bobrovsky didn’t face a lot of rubber, but he came up with some big stops when needed.
- In addition to his two assists, Aleksander Barkov was dominant in the dot, going 14-of-18 on faceoffs. Barkov was credited with three hits and two blocks.
- Seth Jones logged a game-high 24:12 of ice time in his Panthers playoff debut. Jones blocked two shots and finished with a plus-one rating.
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