Lightning beat Panthers 5-1 to cut series deficit to 2-1

By Canadian Press on April 26, 2025.

SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) — Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 33 shots and the Tampa Bay Lightning came back to beat the Florida Panthers 5-1 Saturday to cut their deficit in the first-round series to 2-1.

Tampa Bay’s offense came alive, with goals from Jake Guentzel, Brayden Point, Nick Paul and Luke Glendening. Anthony Cirelli added an empty-netter with five minutes left, and Nikita Kucherov had three assists.

The Lightning will try to even things up in Game 4 on Monday at Sunrise. The Panthers, however, are 5-0 after taking a 2-0 lead in a playoff series.

Paul gave the Lightning their first lead of the series when he slipped a shot just inside the pad of Panthers goalie Sergei Bobrovsky in the second period. Guentzel made it a two-goal lead just 21 seconds into the third before the Lightning pulled away later in the period.

Matthew Tkachuk scored for the Panthers, his third of the series. Bobrovsky finished with 17 saves.

Vasilevskiy had given up seven goals in the first two games but was huge on Saturday. He bounced back from an early Panthers punch and withstood a flurry of Florida shots in the second and third.

Tkachuk, who scored twice in the opener, got on the board 2:43 into the game when he tapped a feed from Sam Bennett past Vasilevskiy, giving the star his 20th playoff goal with the Panthers. The Lightning responded when Guentzel’s shot bounced off Point and past Bobrovsky later in the first to give the NHL’s highest-scoring team in the regular season its first goal in nearly five periods.

GOLDEN KNIGHTS 4, WILD 3, OT

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Ivan Barbashev scored at 17:26 of overtime and Vegas beat Minnesota in Game 4 to even their first-round playoff series.

Nicolas Roy and Tomas Hertl each had a goal and assist, and Shea Theodore also scored for the Pacific Division champion Golden Knights. Adin Hill made 29 saves.

Marco Rossi, Marcus Foligno and Jared Spurgeon scored for Minnesota. Filip Gustavsson made 42 saves, including a pair of sprawling left pad saves of Reilly Smith’s attempts with 3:49 left in regulation.

Game 5 is in Vegas on Tuesday, with Game 6 on Thursday back in Minnesota.

The Associated Press