Steven Lorentz scored his first-ever postseason goal, and it ended up being the game-winner in the Florida Panthers rousing 5-3 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning in Game 3 at Amalie Arena.
Florida opened the scoring for the third consecutive game at 10:39 of the first after the Lightning failed to exit its zone. Carter Verhaeghe dished off to Anton Lundell and he rounded the net before feeding out to Matthew Tkachuk, who quickly punched the puck home.
The Lightning would strike twice in a span of 2:12 to take the lead early in the middle frame.
Shortly after the Panthers killed off an interference call on Gustav Forsling, Steven Stamkos got inside position on Oliver Ekman-Larsson in front of the net and deflected Victor Hedman’s sharp-angled shot/pass from the left boards into the back of the net. The secondary assist went to Nikita Kucherov, whose miss wide caromed to Hedman on the opposite side.
Tampa Bay took its first lead of the series at the 2:56 mark when Tanner Jeannot knocked the puck into the right corner and Tyler Motte took possession and then curled into the high slot and beat a screened Sergei Bobrovksy with a well-placed wrist shot.
The Panthers weathered the storm for a bit and then got back to its game, evening the score at 9:58 on Sam Reinhart’s second of the series. Anthony Duclair turned the puck over to Brandon Montour and he backhanded to Vladimir Tarasenko, who sent a no-look cross to Reinhart. Florida’s sniper took a couple strides into the right circle before unleashing a dart that found the top corner over Andrei Vasilevskiy’s motionless glove.
A hardworking shift from Florida’s fourth line culminated with Kyle Okposo tapping the puck over to Lorentz, who dropped back to Montour at the right point. Montour waited to get some traffic in front and then cranked a slapper that screamed by Vasilevskiy far-side to give the Cats the lead back with 3:30 left in the period.
After picking up his first point of the playoffs, Lorentz got his first career postseason goal at 9:39 of the third, one-touching a wobbly shot off the left post and in after Nick Cousins nudged Forsling’s hard dump in around the boards into the slot.
It looked like the Cats would maintain the two-goal lead until the Lightning pulled Vasilevskiy, but they got caught in a line change, allowing Duclair to take a drop pass from Erik Cernak and set up Nick Paul, who beat Bobrovsky with 5:10 left in regulation.
The Panthers clamped down and Tkachuk iced it with an empty-netter at 19:28 with the assists going to Verhaeghe and Forsling to give his club a commanding 3-0 lead in the series.
Florida will have a chance to eliminate its cross-state rival on Saturday evening.
Nuts & Bolts
- Brandon Montour earned First Star honors for his strong two-point performance. Montour’s goal was the first by a defenseman in the series. He was also credited with a team-high seven hits and finished the tilt with a +3 rating.
- By opening and completing the scoring, Matthew Tkachuk became the first player in franchise history to ever record three career multi-goal playoff games. Tkachuk is tied with Carter Verhaeghe with a series-leading five points.
- Sam Reinhart matched Pavel Bure’s club record with 59 combined goals in a season. In addition to putting three shots on goal, Reinhart was credited with six hits and a block.
- The Lightning have totaled seven goals in three games, and Steven Stamkos has netted three of them. Stamkos lead his team in scoring with four points.
- Sergei Bobrovsky continues to outplay Andrei Vasilevskiy. Bobrovksy finished with 26 saves while Vasilevskiy was beaten four times on 30 shots.
- Steven Lorentz came into the game with three assists in 17 career NHL postseason games before setting up the go-ahead goal, netting the eventual game-winner and dishing out four hits. All in 5:50 of ice time.
- Florida’s penalty kill went a purrfect four for four. The Lightning was only called for one penalty, a coincidental minor, so no power plays for the Cats. Tampa Bay is just 2 for 12 in the series.
- For the sadder side of Game 3, get a morning jolt over at Raw Charge.