Tampa Bay’s Steven Stamkos and Brandon Hagel each tallied twice and the Lightning stayed alive in their best-of-seven Eastern Conference first-round playoff series with a 6-3 win over the visiting Florida Panthers in Game 4 on Saturday.
The win cut the No. 1 wild-card club’s deficit in the Sunshine State rivalry to 3-1. Game 5 is Monday night in Sunrise.
Brayden Point netted one goal and had two assists, Nick Paul scored and Victor Hedman managed three assists. Goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 22 shots as the Lightning broke a six-game postseason home losing streak.
“We kind of stuck to the game plan and got pucks in and simplified things,” Hagel said. “The key to our game was making them go 200 feet. I thought we did a pretty good job of that today.”
NHL top points scorer Nikita Kucherov had three assists for 166 career playoff points, the third-most among active players.
Returning from a broken leg, Tampa Bay defenseman Mikhail Sergachev recorded an assist in his first game since Feb. 7.
“When you get one of the best defensemen in the league back in your lineup, it gives you a little bit of a jump, and it did that tonight,” Hagel said. “Kudos to him for playing tremendous.”
For Florida, Carter Verhaeghe, Sam Reinhart and Oliver Ekman-Larsson found the net, while Matthew Tkachuk posted two assists. Goalie Sergei Bobrovsky made 26 saves.
The Panthers lost for just the second time in the past nine matches (7-2-0) against the Lightning.
“(The Lightning) played really well in the first period,” Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov said. “They scored three goals, and it’s tough to come back from a three-goal lead. But we almost did. That’s good by us, but we don’t want that to ever happen again.”
On their second power play, the Lightning scored first for the first time in the series when strong pressure resulted in Stamkos popping in a goal at 8:54 of the first period.
That marker gave Stamkos 100 career playoff points, making the captain the third Lightning player to reach the milestone.
On the Panthers’ first power play, Hagel made it 2-0 by potting the series’ first short-handed tally. He blocked a shot in his defensive end and fired one in at the near post at 12:09.
Point added on in the explosive first period when he raced by Bobrovsky, around the cage and whipped in his second tally of the series at 15:07 for a three-goal advantage.
In the second, the Atlantic Division champions turned it up a notch with relentless puck possession, resulting in Tkachuk finding Verhaeghe at 4:17 for his third goal of the postseason.
During four-on-four play, Florida got in too deep on a rush, and Hagel scored his third at 9:40.
However, Reinhart’s putback 90 seconds later, his third of the series, made it 4-2. It was the winger’s 60th goal overall this season.
After 3:23 expired, Ekman-Larsson cut it to 4-3 with his third career playoff goal to cap a wild four-goal frame.
“We knew we needed to play better,” Barkov said. “That’s what we did: We started playing our game. It was simple, hard Florida Panthers hockey. We got some goals, but like I said, when it’s 3-0, it’s hard to come back in this league. We almost did, so that’s good. That’s one thing we can take from this game.”
Stamkos’ second marker, a rocket at 9:34 of the third, was his fifth. Paul’s power-play marker, his second, ensured the series is headed back to South Florida.
Hagel said the Lightning expected the Panthers to fight back, as evidenced by their three-goal second period, but Tampa Bay had a response.
“It’s the playoffs, man,” Hagel said. “There’s going to be ups and downs throughout a game, throughout a series, throughout a period. That’s what happened tonight. They had a little pushback, but we had an excellent third period by our guys to fight it. Just a solid third period to close the door.”
–Field Level Media
