Panthers one win away from advancing, defeat Tampa Bay 5-3 in Game 3
Matthew Tkachuk scored twice for Florida and has points in all three playoff games so far
The Florida Panthers are one win away from moving on to round two.
Florida’s fourth consecutive victory at Amalie Arena – dating back to last season – was possibly the biggest one by the Panthers in that building…ever.
At least, so far.
The Panthers defeated Tampa Bay 5-3 in Game 3, taking a commanding 3-0 lead in the best-of-7 series.
Florida came up with two big penalty kills during the first ten minutes, holding Tampa Bay to limited puck possession and three shots on goal.
It wasn’t long after the second kill that the Panthers were able to take their first lead of the night.
Carter Verhaeghe picked up the puck in the corner to the right of Andrei Vasilevskiy, feeding Anton Lundell as he moved behind the net.
Lundell found a cutting Matthew Tkachuk and he made no mistake, beating Vasilevskiy to put the Panthers up 1-0 at the 10:39 mark.
A strong first period by Florida gave way to a rough second, at least the first ten minutes or so.
Two goals, scored by Steven Stamkos and Tyler Motte just 2:12 apart, gave Tampa their first lead of the series.
It lasted about seven minutes.
Sam Reinhart took a cross-ice pass from Vladimir Tarasenko and wired it past Vasilevskiy to tie the game at the 9:58 mark of the middle frame.
The Panthers re-claimed the lead late in the period off a Brandon Montour blueline slapshot, on a play that happened because of a great shift by Florida’s fourth line.
Speaking of the fourth line, Steven Lorentz scored his first Stanley Cup Playoff goal after taking a nice feed from Nick Cousins and beating Vasilevskiy with a shot that went off the post and into the net to put the Panthers ahead 4-2 midway through the third.
Nick Paul cut Florida’s lead in half with 5:10 to go, taking a nice feed from Anthony Duclair and beating Bobrovsky with a quick wrister from between the circles.
An empty-net goal by Tkachuk sealed the victory for Florida.
On to Game 4, looking for a sweep.
Here are some thoughts and observations from Game 3 in Tampa:
Florida has scored first in each of the three games so far during this series.
Reinhart has scored twice during the playoffs after logging 57 goals during the regular season.
Florida went a perfect 4-for-4 on the penalty kill in Game 3. They did not receive a power play.
Kyle Okposo’s assist on Montour’s goal was his first playoff point since 2016 with the New York Islanders.
Tkachuk has three goals and five points so far during the playoffs.
Like Tkachuk, Verhaeghe also has points in all three playoff games – two goals and three assists.
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