TAMPA, Fla. – Matthew Tkachuk had two power-play objectives and an help in his first sport after a two-month absence and the Florida Panthers opened their protection of their Stanley Cup title with a 6-2 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning on Tuesday night time within the first sport of the groups’ first-round playoff sequence.
Nate Schmidt scored on an influence play and completed with two objectives, and Sam Bennett and Sam Reinhart every added a purpose and an help for the Panthers. Sergei Bobrovsky made 20 saves.
Jake Guentzel and Brayden Level scored for Tampa Bay. Andrei Vasilevskiy had 10 stops.
The Lightning performed the ultimate 33:30 with out middle Anthony Cirelli. There was no speedy phrase why the 27-year-old middle was out.
The groups meet for Recreation 2 of the best-of-seven sequence on Thursday at Amalie Enviornment.
TAMPA, FL – APRIL 22: Jake Guentzel #59 of the Tampa Bay Lightning skates in opposition to Gustav Forsling #42 of the Florida Panthers of Recreation One of many First Spherical of the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs at Amalie Enviornment on April 22, 2025 in Tampa, Florida. (Photograph
Tkachuk was enjoying for the primary time in additional than two months after coping with a lower-body damage. He scored twice within the second interval. These two objectives put Florida up 4-1 — the second purpose for the Panthers in a 14-second span — and the following one pushed the result in 5-1 halfway by means of the second interval.
Bennett had opened the scoring at 3:44 of the primary, batting a puck out of the air. Guentzel responded for Tampa Bay, scoring with a person benefit at 12:21. The Panthers regained the lead when Reinhart tipped in a shot by Dmitry Kulikov with 44 seconds remaining within the first.
The Panthers broke the sport open early within the second when Schmidt scored on a rebound at 4:41. Tampa Bay misplaced a problem for goaltender interference on the play, and Tkahchuk scored his first on the following energy play — 14 seconds later — and added a second at 9:44.
Level minimize the deficit to 5-2 at 13:04 of the second. Schmidt added Florida’s third power-play purpose off a go from Tkachuk at 5:09 of the third interval.
