Nate Schmidt’s early goal held up as the winner and goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky posted the shutout as the visiting Florida Panthers claimed a 2-0 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning on Thursday in their Eastern Conference first-round series.
Florida, the defending Stanley Cup champions, leads the best-of-seven series 2-0 with a pair of road victories. Game 3 will be Saturday in Sunrise, Fla.
Bobrovsky claimed his fourth career playoff shutout with a 19-save performance. His biggest saves came during a late flurry, though his team did a masterful job limiting Lightning chances. Sam Bennett added an empty-net goal with 3.4 seconds to play.
Lightning goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 21 shots.
Schmidt, who netted a pair of goals in Game 1, opened the scoring at 4:15 of the first. Shortly after the Panthers killed a penalty, they won an offensive-zone faceoff that led to Sam Reinhart sending a cross-ice pass to Schmidt at the point, and he unloaded a one-timer that found the mark.
Schmidt is the sixth defenseman in NHL history — and the first since Detroit’s Nicklas Lidstrom in 1995 — to open the postseason with three goals in the first two games.
“We put ourselves in a good position here,” said Panthers defenseman Seth Jones. “We understand the series isn’t over. That’s a great team over there and they’re capable of putting up big numbers.”
The Lightning could not find the scoresheet — a huge turn of events for the club that led the league in regular-season scoring. Tampa Bay failed to score on its five power plays and managed only two shots while with the man advantage.
“A better effort, but we’ve got to find a way to get a win,” said Lightning center Brayden Point. “You just got to win one. The series isn’t over. All we can do is focus on the next one.”
The offensive swoon for the Lightning leaves star forward Nikita Kucherov on a 12-game goal-scoring drought in the playoffs, which includes the last seven meetings with the Panthers.
What the game lacked in scoring, it made up in chippy plays between the Sunshine State rivals. That aggression reached its peak when Tampa Bay’s Brandon Hagel was given a major penalty for an interference hit on Florida captain Aleksander Barkov midway through the third period.
Barkov went to the dressing room and did not return. Panthers coach Paul Maurice did not share any postgame insight on his condition.
–Field Level Media
