04/29/24 09:12:00
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04/29 21:10 CDT Sergei Bobrovsky makes 31 saves, Panthers beat Lightning 6-1 to
advance to 2nd round
Sergei Bobrovsky makes 31 saves, Panthers beat Lightning 6-1 to advance to 2nd
round
By ALANIS THAMES
AP Sports Writer
SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) --- Sergei Bobrovsky made 31 saves, Aleksander Barkov and
Carter Verhaege each had two goals and an assist, and the Florida Panthers beat
the Tampa Bay Lightning 6-1 in Game 5 on Monday night to clinch their
first-round series and advance in the NHL playoffs.
Niko Mikkola had a goal and an assist, Evan Rodrigues also scored and Matthew
Tkachuk had two assists for the Panthers, who won a playoff series against
Tampa Bay for the first time in franchise history and clinched a postseason
series at home for only the fourth time. Florida bested Boston and Philadelphia
on home ice in the first two rounds of the 1996 playoffs, then eliminated
Carolina at home in last season's Eastern Conference finals en route to their
second Stanley Cup Final appearance.
Victor Hedman scored for the Lightning, which was eliminated in the first round
for the second straight year after reaching the Final three straight years.
Andrei Vasilevsky stopped 33 shots.
Barkov gave Florida a 2-0 lead when he pounced on a rebound for a short-handed
goal --- his first of the playoffs --- at 7:22 of the second period. He added
another at 8:54 of a four-goal third to restore the Panthers' two-goal cushion
after Hedman got the Lightning on the board 59 seconds after Barkov's first
score.
The Panthers had 22 shots on goal in the second, which is the second-most in a
single period of a playoff game in franchise history. Florida had 23 shots in
the third period of a playoff win against Pittsburgh in 1996.
Verhaeghe opened scoring for the Panthers with a four-on-four goal just 45
seconds into the second period. Verhaeghe grabbed his own rebound and wristed a
shot past Vasilevsky.
Rodrigues added a score for good measure with less than six minutes left to
play on a wrist shot that was his first goal of the playoffs, and Verhaeghe
scored an empty-netter with just under four minutes to play to stretch his
franchise-record goals total to 20. Mikkola added another empty-netter nearly
three minutes later.
Anthony Cirelli appeared to have scored Tampa Bay's first goal when he tapped a
loose puck past Bobrovsky with seven minutes left in the first period. The goal
was overturned, however, after the Panthers challenged for goaltender
interference. Former Panther Anthony Duclair's right skate made contact with
Bobrovsky as he was trying to make the save.
The Lightning had another goal waved off in the second period when Mikhail
Sergachev appeared to tie it on a long-range shot from the blue line. The goal
was immediately waved off because of goaltender interference by Cirelli, and
upheld after a failed Tampa Bay challenge.
The Lightning's NHL-best power play during the regular season was inconsistent
in this first round. Tampa Bay had two man-advantages in the first 10 minutes
of the opening period --- Florida killed them both off --- and finished the
game 0 for 3 .
___
AP NHL playoffs: https://apnews.com/hub/stanley-cup and
https://www.apnews.com/hub/NHL
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