The Florida Panthers took a commanding lead in the latest postseason edition of the Battle of Florida by posting a 5-3 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning in Game 3 at Amerant Bank Arena on Thursday night. Matthew Tkachuk opened and closed the scoring, Steven Lorentz notched his first career playoff goal, and Sam Reinhart and Brandon Montour beat Andrei Vasilveskiy with beauties. Inserted into the lineup with both Ryan Lomberg and Sam Bennett out, veteran Kyle Okposo was credited with an assist, one shot, four hits and finished the game a plus-2. Steven Stamkos scored for the third straight game for the Lightning and Tyler Motte and Nick Paul tallied their first of the series. Ex-Panther Anthony Duclair has assists in back-to-back games.
- WHEN: 5:00 p.m. ET
- WHERE: AMALIE Arena – Tampa, FL
- ON THE TUBE: Bally Sports Florida, Bally Sports SUN, TBS, MAX
- ON THE DIAL: Radio Libre 790 (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 3-0
- LAST MEETING: FLA 5, @TBL 3 – (Recap) 4/25/2023
- NEXT MEETING: Game 5 – April 29, 2024 (if necessary)
- PROJECTED STARTERS: Florida: Bobrovsky (3-0 .901 / 2.30 0SO) Tampa Bay: Andrei Vasilevskiy (0-3 .904 / 3.01 0SO)
- PLAYER STATS: Florida / Tampa Bay
Saturday in the Stanley Cup Playoffs
- Carolina at New York Islanders 2 p.m. (TBS) Hurricanes lead 3-0
- Boston at Toronto 8 p.m. (TBS) Bruins lead 2-1
- Dallas at Vegas 10:30 p.m. (TBS) Golden Knights lead 2-0
Friday’s results
- Rangers 3, Capitals 1 (New York leads series 3-0)
- Canucks 2, Predators 1 (Vancouver leads series 2-1)
- Avalanche 6, Jets 2 (Colorado leads series 2-1)
- Oilers 6, Kings 1 (Edmonton leads series 2-1)