Panthers embrace physicality, defense-oriented game in series-opening win vs Lightning

Verhaeghe was part of the break that went Florida’s way. He scored the go-ahead goal on the power play 58 seconds into the third period on a slick pass in front of the net from Aleksander Barkov.

Matthew Tkachuk added an empty-netter with 2:05 left in regulation to give Florida a needed two-goal cushion to outlast Tampa Bay’s final desperation attempt to level the game. Steven Stamkos scored on the power play with less than 10 seconds left to get the Lightning within a goal but Florida held on after that.

Reinhart and Tampa Bay’s Brandon Hagel scored in the first period. Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 17 of 19 shots he faced.

“It was an even game,” Panthers coach Paul Maurice said. “It’s a turn of the puck one way or the other. Let’s get comfortable with that. Both teams are going to work their asses off for an inch of ice.”

The Panthers can live with that. They have been waiting weeks for this moment to come ever since they secured their spot back in the playoffs. They came up short of their goal last year when their surprising run to the finals ended with a five-game series loss to the Vegas Golden Knights.

The Panthers’ theme to begin the playoffs is “REDemption,” which can apply to both what happened last year and with their playoff history against the Lightning.

On Sunday, Florida gave a reminder of just how good it can be when it has the chance to play its style of game as its road to redemption begins.

“It’s very hard going all the way to the finals and then getting up for games to start the year, if I’m being completely honest with you,” Tkachuk said. “It’s hard to make the playoffs so you’ve got to find a way to get back there, but we’ve been waiting all year for this moment now to have a chance to do what we didn’t do last you. You don’t even have to ask guys. You could just see it on their faces how fired up they were. We had a great start to the season, which ultimately led to this but I just thing as the season goes along, you just get that much more excited for what’s potentially going to happen come April, May and June.”

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